Nigerians may enjoy easy Yuletide as NNPC pledges adequate fuel supply during ‘Ember Months’

As the Yuletide season beckons, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has disclosed that appropriate supply arrangements have been made, so there won’t be a shortage of gasoline in December or beyond.

This was revealed by Mr. Umar Ajia, the Chief Financial Officer of NNPC Ltd., on Monday in Abuja when he testified before a House of Representatives ad hoc committee regarding the fuel subsidy system in Nigeria.

Even after the general election in 2023, according to Ajia, the corporation has put in place sufficient mechanisms to prevent a petrol shortage in the nation.

“We have extended our Direct Sales Direct Purchase (DSDP) contract by six months, to sustain the supply of PMS throughout the country.

“The DSDP contract in reality ended in August and it is a very dangerous period to begin to retender for that because we are facing the winter, these are the difficult “embers months’’ that we normally avoid fuel scarcity.

“You know the scarcity in Nigeria is really associated with the Christmas period so if you now tender, the tendering process will take one or two months.

“So, what the board approved is to extend the contract for six months such that we have passed the winter and we have passed the election, otherwise we could have problems during election,’’ he said.

Rep. Ibrahim Al- Mustapha (APC-Sokoto), the committee’s chairman, stated that an increase in the price of gasoline in Nigeria was necessary to keep pace with the market price.

Read also: IPMAN allays fears of fuel scarcity during Yuletide

Al-Mustapha claimed that the price of petrol in the Niger Republic, Mali, and Benin Republics was N536 per litre, N577 per litre, and N389 per litre, respectively.

However, Ajia said that fuel that was subsidised for Nigerians was being smuggled to neighbouring nations and that data on fuel consumption in the country may not necessarily be accurate.

He claimed that because of the porous borders, cheap fuel intended for Nigerian consumers travels as far as Mali and other nearby nations.

“If you have N5 million, you can cross the borders with trucks laden with petrol and that is the bitter truth, we have porous borders; yes we have customs but I do not know,” he said.

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