Following a recent move by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to assure the public of plans to end fuel scarcity in Nigeria, it has taken a series of steps to ensure that this promise is met. Yesterday, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) in a statement by its head corporate Service, Lanre Oladele revealed that The federal government has retained the pump price of petrol at the prevailing N86.50 for oil marketers and N86 for retail outlets belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), for the second quarter of 2016.

The statement by the PPPRA also disclosed that the NNPC has been allocated 41.73 percent of the total import quota for the second quarter of 2016, while other marketers got a total allocation of 58.27 percent. This is different from the allocation formula for the first quarter in 2016, where the NNPC was allocated 78 percent and other marketers 22 percent.

It is speculated that the decision to reduce the NNPC’s allocation for Q2 may have been informed by the persistent fuel scarcity which has showed that the NNPC is struggling to keep up with being the sole importer of petrol. It also follows Kachikwu’s revelation that the development has been a burden on the Corporation.  The corporation has been faced with supply constraints due to foreign exchange challenges, although they said resolving this is through collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria on innovative ways of closing the gaps in accessing foreign exchange. Some of the major international upstream oil companies have indicated their willingness to support major oil marketing companies with some of the required foreign exchange. NNPC said it is also working on a joint partnership with technically and financially capable investors to ensure that petroleum products, transportation and storage facilities are efficiently operated on an open-access common-carrier user-tariff basis.

The PPPRA has also put a truck out policy in place instructing depot owners to ensure that petroleum products get to their designated retail outlets across the country. They have also warned that adequate sanctions await any depot-owner found to be hoarding products.

With all these measures in place, Nigerians may finally be optimistic about the situation.

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