Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has acknowledged with concern the sudden appearance of queues in parts of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
In a statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the company, Garba Deen-Mohammed, the NNPC, however, assured residents not to panic as normalcy would return as quickly as possible.
The queues, according to the statement, are due to low load-outs at Depots, which usually happen during long Public Holidays; in this case, the Sallah celebrations.
Another contributing factor to the sudden appearance of queues is the increased fuel purchase caused by the return of Residents of the FCT from the Public Holidays, it said.
It also assured the public that NNPC-Limited and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, in conjunction with Marketing Partners, have taken necessary measures to ramp up load-outs from all Depots.
Addressing all Residents of the FCT, and indeed all Nigerians, the statement insisted that NNPC-Limited “has ample local supplies and national stock in excess of 2.5 Billion Litres”, with the sufficiency of more than 43 days.
To this end, it added, “NNPC-Limited hereby advises motorists not to engage in panic buying as supplies are adequate as will become increasingly evident in the coming days.”