Buhari orders Kachikwu, Baru to clear fuel queues in four days

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has handed the minister of state for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, and the GMD of the state run Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, marching orders to put an end to the petrol queues spiralling across the country--by the weekend.

Gas shortages are a recurring theme across Nigeria’s major cities around Christmas season.

Queues showed up in Lagos and Abuja on Monday this week and there have been reported re-emergence of the annoying queues in some gas stations in a few other cities.

Abuja calling

On Tuesday, NNPC boss Baru had to cut short his London trip in order to tackle the crisis back home.

The state oil corporation has blamed panic buying for the gas shortages while assuring Nigerians that there's enough petrol in tank farms to see the country through the yuletide and beyond.

There have also been rumours of an impending pump price hike of petrol.

The NNPC has restated that the rumoursare a pack of lies.

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However, at Wednesday’s FEC meeting which was chairedby Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Baru and Kachikwu were handed a deadline to make the queues disappear before the commencement of a fresh working week.

Deadline

"The minister of state for petroleum was supposed to join us but he has to attend a very important meeting so that this crisis would be resolved”, Information minister Lai Mohammed told journalists after today’s FEC meeting.

Mohammed also said there are no plans by the government to increase pump price of petrol.

“No. The government has no intention at all to increase the pump price of PMS. Two, the minister assured the council that we have enough products till the next one month even till the end of January.

“Thirdly, this is winter period. There is always more demand for refined products for petroleum during winter period in the colder countries, this is what we are experiencing now.

“The minister also said that it has been the NNPC that has been importing, but he has assured (us that this will be fixed).

"The council gave him a marching order that this fuel scarcity should not last beyond this weekend and they are going to work very hard to ensure that it is curtailed. He assured council that there is actually no cause for alarm.”