After fuel shortages were experienced at some filling stations across the country sparking concerns of a possible nationwide shortage, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has allayed fears, emphasizing that the country has much of the products in stock.
Some pockets of shortages were seen at some Oil Marketing Companies, particularly Goil, and others at the start of the week causing distress among some consumers.
The shortage at some pumps were perceived by a section of the public and some industry players as a sign of the unavailability of the products in the country.
But the Communications Manager of the NPA, Mohammed Abdul-Kudus has debunked claims of the availability of the product in the system adding that the shortages seen at the pumps are superficial and peculiar to those OMCs.
“We have enough fuel in the system. Our plans for the availability of fuel and the plans to restock are both on course. There is no, in the near future, any possibility of shortage at all,” Abdul-Kudus insisted in an interview monitored by The High Street Journal.
He further explained that the problem at these OMCs experiencing shortages could be as a result of unpaid debt owed to their distributors or some sort of severed business relationship.
Such peculiar cases between the OMCs and the Bulk Distributing Companies (BDCs), the Communications Manager of the NPA noted have nothing to do with the nationwide availability of petroleum products.
“If there is a certain shortage at the filling stations, then it could be the issue of distribution but not the availability of the product whether it is diesel, petrol,” he said.
He added that “it could be an issue of a business relationship between the OMC and the BDC. And if there is a challenge with regard to some payment of a debt or an issue between the two, it could have led to the availability of the product at that particular OMC.”
