By Ignatius Ushie As Long queues of vehicles waiting to buy petrol from service stations resurfaced in most parts of the country, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has cut short his official trip to London. Transport Day checks reveal that most service stations in Maitama, Wuse, Jabi, along Kubwa Expressway and Nyanya axis, have vehicular queues, but the stations were dispensing at the official pump price of N143 to N145 per litre. On a visit to the NNPC station in Wuse Market district, queues for petrol were building up to the Aminu Kano Way, while the corporation’s mega station along the Kubwa Expressway also had queues for petrol. In Jabi, it we noticed queues at a NIPCO filling station which was equally dispensing to consumers. Attendants at the station said they had fuel and were surprised at the sudden build-up of queues at their station. Similarly, motorists who bought petrol from the Ascon station along the IBB Way in Wuse, said they spent an average of 30 minutes to get in and out of the station with petrol in their tanks. In Gwanripa, the situation was quite different as the length of the queues appeared to have been more than what was observed in some parts of the city. In a statement by the NNPC Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, reiterated that there was no need for the sudden return of queues at petrol stations across the country, stating that it had enough stocks. The statement further informed that following the return of these queues, Baru had to cut short his trip to London, where he had gone to receive a Forbes award to him as its ‘Oil and Gas Man of the Year’ for 2017. It said that Baru would be back in the country to resolve the fuel supply and distribution challenges, adding that it was as a result of panic buying by motorists. The statement also quoted Baru to have called on Nigerians to stop panic buying and that the NNPC was doing everything within its reach to address the situation. “For the umpteenth time, I wish to call on all Nigerians to stop panic buying. We have said times without number that NNPC has sufficient products to cater for the needs of all consumers,” Baru stated in the statement. Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream has summoned Baru over increasing fuel queues surfacing in different parts of the country. Baru is expected to appear before the committee on Thursday.]]>
