Fuel Scarcity: Lukman Gives NNPC Ultimatum

Hope of finding a lasting solution to the three months old fuel scarcity appeared last week as the minister of petroleum resources, Dr Rilwan Lukman handed down a seven days ultimatum to the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to flood filling stations with petrol or get sacked.
In a statement issued last week by NNPC’s Group General Manager in charge of Public Affairs, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, Lukman reportedly told both the NNPC management and the members of the ‘NNPC War Room’ which was created with a mandate to end the fuel crisis within the next seven days, to “come up with a viable plan of action to end the fuel queues permanently”.
Lukman, according to Ajuonuma said:  “yes, there may exist some external factors which are hindering your success in this regard but that is the challenge for you because you are the national oil company. There is no more room for excuses because we have been engaged by the government and the Nigerian people to do this job despite the odds. And we must deliver.”
“People are given a job because of their ability to deliver and if you cannot do it we are going to get people who can do it. This fuel matter is not only a social and economic nuisance but has some negative implication for the national security,’’ he said
The minister was reportedly angry over the national embarrassment the three-month-old fuel scarcity has caused the country, threatened to sack the NNPC chiefs.
On the strength of the minister’s threat, the ‘NNPC War Room’ which was created also last week is expected to come up with workable solutions to the perennial scarcity.
Ajuonuma stated that under this arrangement, products would be deployed from the national strategic stocks in Kano, Suleja and Minna for onward bridging to the Federal Capital in a massive trail of truck movement which would see Abuja receive extra 110  trucks daily for the next three days.
To concretise the arrangement, he said NNPC Retail Limited, had secured the commitment of over 350 truck owners in the Kano-Kaduna axis for the exercise.
“Similarly the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the NNPC, has equally secured similar commitment from depot owners and tanker drivers in Lagos to facilitate the accelerated evacuation of marine stocks to ease distribution challenges,” he said.