The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), said it has ensured energy security for Nigerians and motorists this Yuletide across the country, in keeping with its earlier promise.
Reports of nationwide availability of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise referred to as petrol, at filling stations, have ensured a smooth and blissful Christmas holiday for Nigerians and all consumers of the product.
The development validates the assurance given in November by the national oil company that it had enough petrol supply to last beyond the festive period.
NNPC’s chief corporate communications officer, Olufemi Soneye, cited the organisation’s group chief executive officer (GCEO), Mele Kyari, as saying last month in a statement that it was crucial to reassure Nigerians of a sufficient gasoline supply to safeguard national security to the fullest extent possible.
The remarks were made during a courtesy visit by Kyari to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
“By the creation of the National Assembly, NNPC Ltd. is saddled with the responsibility of guaranteeing Nigeria’s energy security, which is critical to national security,” Soneye quoted the GCEO to have further said.
“We have made a robust plan for the forthcoming end-of-year festivities and beyond. We do not see any shortages in the petroleum products supply for the period,” he said.
Christmas Day reports from fueling stations in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Enugu, Bauchi, and Kano indicated the availability of products.
Motorists seamlessly drove into the filling stations to buy the product across the country.
The Mele Kyari-led NNPC had in the last three years removed long queues at filling stations occasioned by the fuel crisis in the festive run-up to Christmas and New Year nationwide.
The period had been characterised by panic buying and hoarding, with black marketeers exploiting the situation.
The previous fuel crisis saw a rise in the cost of transportation while commuters were stranded.
The Bola Tinubu administration’s bold initiative to remove fuel subsidies has put the nation’s oil industry on an even keel in the post-Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) regime.
He had declared at his inauguration on May 29 that the subsidy had to end because the country could no longer sustain it with trillions of naira yearly spent on it.
Tinubu said the funds being channelled into subsidies are better used for healthcare, the transportation sector, schools, housing, and national security, among others.
