The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has filed litigation against importers of the adulterated Premium Motor Spirit popularly known as Petrol considering the impacts of the withdrawal of the products on the economy.
The Group Managing Director of the NNPC Mr Mele Kyari disclosed this in Abuja, during an investigative hearing on the importation of adulterated Premium Motor Spirit conducted by the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream).
Mr Kyari noted that the Corporation rejected an additional five vessels of PMS imported into the country by the same company.
“What did we do, we have put all our suppliers who are our contacts or commercial angle on notice that there would be liquidated damages that will come from this. And also it is typical practice that we compile liquidated damages that the direct supplier didn’t cost, he will transfer that to the next person until it gets to the originating supplier, so it’s a back-to-back arrangement that is always done so that once you file on one of them it will get to the last one.”
While giving updates on the efforts made so far to restore normalcy into the supply of PMS across the country, Mr Kyari said the NNPC has placed an order of over two billion litres that could be enough for the country for a month or so.
“For this current situation, I assure you that we have taken every necessary step to restore supply into this country. We have placed orders significant enough for us to cross into March, with at least 2.1 billion litres of PMS in our custody.
The situation you’re seeing today I can assure you that by next week it will vanish. All things being equal because of distribution issues that we may not have control over including the movement of trucks, otherwise, we have robust supply arrangements to make sure that we exit this issue.
“We didn’t know until our inspecting agents on 20th of January to be precise called our attention to the fact that it has seen emulsification in some of the depots and this may be a cause of concern. That is how we went ahead to check all the deliveries in our hands from all the four vessels that came that have already discharged and to confirm that all of them contain methanol.”
The Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources Downstream, Abdullahi Gaya expressed displeasure over the scourge of current fuel scarcity which has a negative impact on the people and the economy.
“As we are all aware, fuel queues have recently caused gridlock in most of our major cities affecting traffic movements. Some fuel stations are locked while the few that are open have long queues of motorists waiting to buy fuel.
“This situation is not different in the capital city, Abuja, and our major cities where the majority of filling stations are shut and Motorists spend hours in the sun struggling to buy from the few that are open.” Abdullahi Gaya argued.
PIAK
