By Abdullahi Mohammed, Abuja
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Mele Kyari, has assured that the queues in filling stations in some parts of the country would disappear soon.
Fielding questions from State House corespondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, Kyari said there’s nothing to worry about on fuel price and queues.
He said queues were as a result of the industrial action by petroleum tanker drivers.
“These queues will go away. It’s because there was an industrial action by petroleum tanker drivers against their employers, the National Association of Road Transport Owners around their compensation package. And those issues were not resolved up till yesterday, until we intervened to ensure that there’s an amicable settlement between the parties so that they will have peace and then normal loading operations will commence from the depots.
“As I speak to you at this moment, loading has commenced in all depots in the country, dispatches of trucks are ongoing in all the depots in the country and they have called off the strike for a period of one week to enable us intervene and find a solution. So, there’s really nothing fundamental that is happening now,” he said.
On the issue of petroleum subsidy, Kyari said the NNPC was working to ensure that when the nation exits fuel subsidy policy, it would be fair for all.
“Subsidy is a policy matter. I’m sure you’re aware of this. There are engagements going on within government to get the best framework for having a fully deregulated PMS market.“As this is going on, we’re engaging all parties and all stakeholders as government and to make sure that at the end of the day, there’s an exit that is beneficial to the ordinary man. That is why we know we will not be able to complete that in the month of May and and therefore, we declared that there will be no increase in fuel price.
“I have no update in hand now. This is beyond me, but we’re engaging to make sure that we have the right timeline,” he said.
Kyari also spoke on the impacts of the rising crude oil price on the operations, saying it has benefits and drawbacks.“It works both ways. Once prices increase, your revenue also increases. So, I don’t have any numbers around it, but I also know that your obligation to price of petroleum increases and your net revenue also increases. There’s a balancing factor. I don’t think there’s anything much to worry about,” he said.