Fuel is scarce because 30% of supply is diverted outside Nigeria – Kachikwu

Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, has again called for understanding over the lingering fuel scarcity in the country.

Speaking in Lagos at a town hall meeting, Kachikwu lamented that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) cannot track fuel trucks as there were cases of diversion to other countries.

“Over 30 per cent of (fuel) supply is diverted,” he said.

“For example, in the last five days, we have pumped 400 trucks of product into Lagos state. The total consumption (in the state) at the maximum is 250 trucks, and most of those trucks are diverted from Lagos to the hinterland of Chad and Cameroon.

“We need, literally, a whole army to stop this from happening. So I continue to supply and over-supply and so we struggle.”

Calling on Nigerians to report incidents of diversion of fuel, Kachikwu said “We started publishing deliveries and telling you the filling stations they were allocated to, so if you don’t find products in those filling stations, there are hotlines to call and for police to report.”

Kachikwu said the NNPC was currently burdened with the entire work of supply and regulation, and takes all the loss.

Daily Post