The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fuel queues

  • ‘Support Kachikwu to end fuel queues’

    ‘Support Kachikwu to end fuel queues’

    Nigerians  have been urged not to despair,  with petrol price  hitting N200 per litre in Delta and other states of the Niger Delta at the weekend.

    The oil industry monitoring group, Niger Delta Indigenous Movement for Radical Change (NDIMRC), which made the appeal, said the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, should be supported in his bid to end the lingering fuel crisis.

    The group hailed Dr Kachikwu for wading into the leadership crises in the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).

    The group’s President, Nelly Emma, Secretary, John Sailor and Public Relations Officer (PRO), Stanley Mukoro, in a statement, said it was impressed with the presentation of the minister during the meeting with the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream).

    “It is clear to all now that the oil cabals are out to frustrate the Petroleum Resources minister, but they will not succeed.”

    “As patriotic Nigerians, we should work against the oil cabals, who are making things difficult for our people. We should partner with the minister to end the lingering fuel scarcity. There are people out there deriving joy from the fuel crisis to give the minister a bad name, we should shame such people and give the required backing to the hard-working minister.”

    “There are entrenched interests opposed to reforms within the oil sector and they are behind the fuel crisis. We must not allow them to have their way and we are glad the minister made it clear to those calling for his head that he will not resign because he has has a job to do,” the group said.

    It added: “We should give the minister who is down to earth our support in this crucial moment. Dr Kachikwu is feeling the pains we are passing through, he is not insensitive to the plight of the people and he expressed theses pains when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream). The like of Dr Kachikwu is rare and this is why he needs our support to end the fuel scarcity as he promised. Let us put those who may be out to ensure that there is no end to the fuel scarcity on check. The minister is pained over the fuel crisis and he is determined to end it, but we know there are some elements out there who are not happy with his efforts for Nigerians to obtain fuel without stress, they will fail in their mission”.

  • Fuel queues: Nigerians paying for Jonathan administration’s sins

    Fuel queues: Nigerians paying for Jonathan administration’s sins

    •FEC approves review of tax laws

    The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, yesterday said the fuel queues across the country was Nigerians way of paying for the sins of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
    He was answering questions from reporters at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
    Mohammed spoke in company of Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma and Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed.
    The minister of Information noted that Jonathan’s administration failed to make provision for fuel subsidy from August 2014.
    The fuel scarcity, he said, was not from unavailability of the product, but as a result of distribution problem.
    He said: “What I will be telling Nigerians is that what we met on ground is such that we are paying for the sins of the last administration. I am being serious. You remember that about two weeks ago, we had to go to the National Assembly for a supplementary budget of N674 billion.
    “Of that figure, N522 billion was for arrears of fuel subsidy incurred from August last year. One of the reasons for the fuel scarcity was the inability of the last government to make provision for fuel subsidy.
    “We do face some other logistic problems but majorly we are paying for the sins of the last administration.
    As a way forward, he said: “The solution is what you have seen us doing. The first thing we have done is to make sure that unlike before when the marketers used to import the major percentage of the fuel, NNPC is now involved in importation, because some of the marketers had stopped importing for a couple of months. If you see any fuel anywhere today, it is imported by the NNPC.
    “We also inherited pipelines vandalism, which has made it impossible for us to transport the fuel. In tanks today we have 14 days’ reserve and off tank we have 10 days’ reserve. The issue is not non-availability of the product, it is distribution.
    “Because of pipelines that have been vandalised and the gridlock in Lagos, it takes about five days for anybody to take fuel with tanker in Lagos. As at two days ago, this matter has been resolved. The Mosinmi pipeline has been secured and it has improved distribution,”he added.
    He also said the minister of Budget and National Planning presented memo to FEC seeking approval for the 2016 budget, which he said was approved by FEC.
    The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, he said, also presented a memo for the review of taxation laws to improve the legal framework and enhance compliance.
    Stressing that the taxation memo was also approved by FEC, Mohammed said: “We have noticed some inadequacies in the tax regime and that these inadequacies have been exploited by individuals and corporate organisations to evade tax, which has led to loss of revenue to the government. The review aims at plugging these loopholes.”
    On the 2016 Budget, Udoma said: “The details of the budget will be presented by the President tomorrow at 10 a.m. Everything will be there in his budget address. The President will address a joint session of the National Assembly tomorrow.
    Speaking on the taxation law, Udoma said: “It was a memo presented by the attorney general and it is basically looking at the policies behind the laws to see whether they need to be strengthened. It is a review to see whether there are gaps.
    “It is a little premature to talk about what exactly the reviews are, I am sure they would be consulting widely and definitely any review will not aim at those who can’t afford it. It would be aimed more at the affluent rather than the poor.”

  • Fuel queues: Nigerians paying for Jonathan’s sins – Minister

    Fuel queues: Nigerians paying for Jonathan’s sins – Minister

    The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, on Monday said the present fuel queues across the country were Nigerians way of paying for the sins of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

    He made the remark while fielding questions from journalists at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja.

    Muhammed briefed journalists in the company of Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma.

    The minister noted that Jonathan’s administration failed to make provision for fuel subsidy as far back as August 2014.

    The present fuel scarcity, he said, is not as a result of unavailability of the product in the country, but due to distribution problem.

    He said: “What I will be telling Nigerians is that what we met on ground is such that we are paying for the sins of the last administration. I am being very serious. You remember that about two weeks ago, we had to go to the National Assembly for a supplementary budget of N674 billion.

    “Of that figure, N522 billion was for arrears of fuel subsidy which was incurred as far back as August last year. One of the reasons for the fuel scarcity was the inability of the last government to make adequate provision for fuel subsidy.

    “We do face some other logistic problems but majorly we are paying for the sins of the last administration.”

  • Fuel queues resurface in Kwara

    Fuel queues resurface in Kwara

    Long queues of vehicles, waiting to buy premium motor spirit (PMS) resurfaced yesterday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

    The development, which was reminiscent of the dark days of fuel scarcity in the country, made many motorists to groan, following the non-availability of petroleum products in most filling stations across the state capital.

    Attendants at most of the petrol stations visited by our reporter said they had no product to sell and blamed the development on their inability to access products from Ibadan since the last few days.

    The development started a day earlier, but was restricted to stations owned by independent marketers, as the major operators were dispensing fuel.

    It was also limited to the state capital then. At that time, the independent marketers were said to have had disagreement with officials of the Pipeline Product Marketing Company (PPMC), which forced most of them to close their gates while they still had products.

    The situation degenerated yesterday, as even the major operators closed their gates and claimed they had no supply. At press time, only two stations, one private and another major, were selling along the popular Murtala Mohammed Road in the metropolis.

    A drive from Stadium  through Oja-Oba indicated that only one private station was attending to customers.

    It was the same situation at stations on Ola-Olu-Gaa-Akanbi Road.  Only two stations sold the product near Odota-Airport Road when our reporter visited.

    A cafe operator at Murtala Mohammed area, Juwon Medaiyese, said his assistant spent three hours in the queue to buy a 10-litre of petrol.