Fakoyejo Olalekan
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) said ongoing road projects in Lagos are behind scarcity of fuel in several areas within the state, as queues return to filling stations.
Prime Business Africa gathered that distribution of fuel has been crippled by the rehabilitation and construction of roads, preventing filling stations from loading their fuel tank or meeting demands from customers.uj
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Explaining the situation, NNPC’s executive Vice President, Downstream, Adeyemi Adetunju, told journalists on Tuesday that the road projects had caused gridlock around Apapa, location of Nigeria’s major port.
Also affected is the connecting roads of Lagos depots. This has created ripple effect across other states, as the fuel, after importation, can’t be transported out of Lagos port.
Adetunji said: “The recent queues in Lagos are largely due to ongoing road infrastructure projects around Apapa and access road challenges in some parts of Lagos depots.
“The gridlock is easing out and NNPC has programmed vessels and trucks to unconstrained depots and massive load outs from depots to various states are closely being monitored.
“Abuja is impacted by the challenges recorded in Lagos. NNPC retail and key marketers have intensified dedicated loading into Abuja to restore normalcy as souon as possible.”
Adetunji revealed NNPC has a national petrol stock of over 2 billion litres. This is equivalent to over 30 days of sufficiency.
Prime Business Africa learnt NNPC is working with the NMDPRA, MOMAN, DAPPMAN, IPMAN, NARTO, PTD, and other industry stakeholders to ensure normalcy is returned.
“We want to reassure all Nigerians that NNPC has sufficient products, and we significantly increased product loading, including 24-hour operations in selected depots and extended hours at strategic stations to ensure products sufficiency nationwide.”
