The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has assured Nigerians of adequate supply of petroleum products during the New Year celebrations and beyond.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Department, NNPC, Mr Ohi Alegbe, stated this in an interview at Abuja.
Alegbe, therefore, called on the general public to avoid panic buying of petroleum products as adequate measures had been put in place to supply Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) nationwide.
He also advised marketers to desist from hoarding or diverting petroleum products as any marketer caught in the nefarious act would be sanctioned.
Alegbe pledged that the corporation would ensure hitch free transportation of goods and services during the festive period and beyond.
Similarly, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), said measures had been put in place to check hoarding or diversion of petroleum products in Abuja and its environs during the period.
The Zonal Controller, DPR Abuja, Mallam Usman Mohammed, told us that the department had raised three surveillance teams to monitor fuel situation in the city and ensure that no marketer sale the product above the official pump price or under-dispensed to motorists.
He called on the residents to report any suspected manipulation by fuel attendants at filling stations to the appropriate authority.
Mohammed warned that any oil marketer who indulge in sharp practice would either be suspended or get the licence withdrawn.
In the same vein, the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), has directed Petroleum Marketers in the country to sell products allocated them only at their various stations.
The Executive Secretary of the agency, Mr Farouk Ahmed, who stated this in a statement issued in Abuja, also called on the marketers to sell PMS at the officially-approved pump price of N97 per litre, or risk sanction.
He said that the PPPRA’s national petroleum products stocks data indicated that the country had been consistent in building land and marine-based stocks, which now stood at over 40-day sufficiency.
He said more vessels were being handled to discharge products at various depots across the country.