Following the reappearance of fuel queues in the Federal Capital Territory, a site that has plagued the nation’s capital for most of the year, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) warned against panic buying, stating that the association is working with the FG on improving supply following the holiday weekend.
This was disclosed in a statement by its public relations officer (PRO), Alhaji Suleiman Yakubu on Tuesday in Abuja.
The FG had earlier promised that the last quarter of the year would be fuel queue free.
Reacting to the news of fuel queues in Abuja as a limited number of stations sell petrol, IPMAN’s Alhaji Suleiman Yakubu called it an unnecessary panic purchase.
“I advise Nigerians to stop panic buying, as we have enough Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), on the ground.
“We want to assure the buyers that the government and marketers are doing everything possible to ensure that the products are available and avoid any impulse buying,” he said.
Peoples Daily reported last month that The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd stated that Nigerians will not have to queue for petrol in December as they have done for most of the year, especially between February and April.
This was disclosed during a briefing with the ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives on the fuel subsidy regime in Nigeria.
NNPC said: “We have extended our Direct Sales Direct Purchase (DSDP) contract by six months, to sustain the supply of PMS across 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 “ember 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 will have passed the winter and the elections period, otherwise we could have problems during election,’’
