Nathaniel Zaccheaus, Abuja
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited said yesterday that it had over 1.6bn litres of the Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) in stock for the consumption of Nigerians, all over the country.

The Group Managing Director of the agency, Mele Kyari disclosed this in Abuja at the unveiling of the Association of Distributors and Transporters of Petroleum Products.

Kyari was represented on the occasion by the Chief Executive Officer Downstream, NNPC Tower, Mr Adeyemi Adetunji,

He said, “NNPC as of today has 1.6 billion litres of PMS which is about 27 days sufficiency.

“This is to assure Nigerians again that there is adequate supply of PMS and it is getting to all nooks and crannies of Nigeria. We will continue to ensure that we facilitate the availability of PMS.

“I appreciate all Nigerians for all the patience and cooperation as we get back to normalcy in terms of petroleum products distribution in the country.

“After the challenge, we had in January and the global environment for energy got worsened with the crisis in Ukraine and Russia, NNPC will do its best to alleviate the plight of Nigerians.”

He explained that the company has been working with all stakeholders in the oil and gas industry to provide palliatives.

He also expressed the firm’s readiness to continue to ensure that there was free flow of petroleum motor spirit in all areas of the country.
“We are working with the authority, we are working with Nigerian Association of Transport Owners and Petroleum Tanker Drivers.

“ Right now, we are going to work with ADITOP to ensure we create normalcy to the situation,” he said.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, also on the occasion, called on stakeholders in the Industry to make petroleum products available for citizens.

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Sylva was represented by the Director of Human Resources in the ministry, Famous Asiegbu.

He said the ministry would continue to offer the association, the needed support.

President of the ADITOP, Alhaji Lawan Dan-Zaki said that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) if implemented properly and selflessly, could serve as a standard for national resource management.

He said, “Nigeria has a wealth of natural resources, with petroleum playing a major role in the economy.

“Unfortunately, in the Nigerian economy, the distribution of petroleum products is plagued by complex issues resulting in product outages, inflated costs, and disagreements over the product’s pump price.”

He added that ADITOP was poised toward working with all key players in the industry to tackle the challenges.

The President Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr Chinedu Okoronkwo, said that the unveiling of the association was a new road map for the oil and gas industry.

He explained that prior to the coming up of ADITOP marketers had no association that could aggregate the activities of truck ownership.
He said, “We are in a season that we are losing members because those not in the business have hijacked our business.”

“With the collaboration with ADITOP, there will be no more strike where people will lock NNPC depot. All these excesses would be checked,” Okoronkwo added.