Fuel Scarcity: Presidency summons Baru, DSS, others

By Abdullahi M. Gulloma

Abuja

The Presidency, yesterday in Abuja, summoned critical stakeholders in the nation’s oil sector and the leadership of security agencies to end the scarcity of petrol in the country.
The meeting, presided over by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, was attended by the Minister of Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu; Director-General of the State Security Service, Lawal Daura; and the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru behind closed doors.
Others in attendance at the meeting were the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Muhammed Babandede; some presidential aides and other stakeholders in the oil industry.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on January 1, during a nationwide broadcast, expressed sadness over the unnecessary hardships inflicted on Nigerians during the Christmas and New Year celebrations following acute petrol scarcity across the country.
He attributed the hardships to the activities of a few but heartless individuals working within the nation’s oil and gas sector.
The President, however, reiterated the determination of his administration to get to the root of the persistent petrol scarcity, and ensure that whichever groups were behind this manipulated blackmail would be prevented from doing so again.
Blueprint, however, observed that the long queues in filling stations in Abuja and Lagos have gradually disappeared in the last two days as promised by the GMD of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, who on Friday last week vowed that Nigerians would not go into 2018 with the scarcity of petroleum products.

Leave a Reply