The House of Representatives, has reassured that the current scarcity of petrol across the Country which has left motorists and other users stranded will soon fizzle out.
Long queues at few filling stations dispensing the products have informed traffic jam in cities across States in the country, just as the scarcity have informed hike in transport fare, leaving many stranded in major metropolises.
The Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Downstream, Rep. Ikenga Ugochinyere, at a joint news conference in Abuja on Wednesday, said the scarcity is artificial and will disappear “in a couple of days”.
“We hereby express our concerns over the temporary presence of fuel queues in petrol stations across the country.
“However, we are convinced that this is temporary based on our investigation, and in a couple of days, we shall get over it,” he said.
Flanked by Rep. Henry Okojie, the Committee Chairman, Petroleum Midstream, Ugochinyere said that investigations had revealed that the scarcity was artificial.
“We have discovered that there is availability of petrol products. We have it on good authority that we have in our storage facilities at least, about 1.5 billion liters of petrol,” he said.
He said that 1.5 billion liters can last for 30 days.
“We have gotten assurances from the regulators in the distribution value chain that these bottlenecks have been cleared. In the course of this public holiday, more grounds will be covered.
“From our findings, the issues that necessitated the disruptions that led to the appearance of fuel queues in petrol stations have been cleared.
“They said that it would take a few more days for things to return to normalcy, while calling on Nigerians not to panic over this development.
“We have gotten assurances from the regulators and the unions that these challenges will be cleared in a few days,” he said.
Ugochinyere added: “It will require more time, like two to three days, for products to be distributed to all stations nationwide.
“As a committee that is charged with downstream and midstream oversight, we have been monitoring this development.”