The management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has strongly dismissedrumours that the Federal Government has concluded plans to hike the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol, which has led to the build up of queues in petrol stations in Abuja and other parts of the country.A press statement by the Group General Manager of the Group Public Affairs Division of the corporation, Dr Levi Ajuonuma, disclosed that the NNPC has well over 39 days sufficiency of PMS and other petroleum products in stock. He described the rumoured hike in fuel price as baseless and unfounded and urged the petroleum tanker owners to release their trucks for loading of petroleum products at various depots and loading facilities in Lagos now that the elections have been rounded up across the country.The NNPC wishes to inform Nigerians that the rumoured hike in the price of PMS by the Federal Government is false and a mere figment of the imagination of detractors of the nation. The corporation also urges petroleum tanker owners and drivers to resume loading of petroleum products in order to avoid any artificial scarcity of petroleum products as the corporation has over 39 days of product sufficiency, Dr Ajuonuma added.The NNPC spokesman called onmembers of the public to desist from engaging in panic buying of PMS.Meanwhile, acute scarcity of petrol, diesel and kerosene has hit Minna and other major towns in Niger State as revealed by Nigerian Tribunes investigations.The scarcity was first noticed on the eve of Easter but later became pronounced with virtually all the filling stations going for days without the commodities.The investigation further showed that as a result of the scarcity, a litre of petrol was soldfor between N80 and N100 while diesel and kerosene as of Monday, attracted N200 per litre.Most of the petrol stations had shut down while some motorists who drove their vehicles into the petrol stations abandoned them there for lack of fuel to take them home.No reason had been given for the scarcity of the products but unconfirmed reports said the high cost of diesel was attributable to the scarcity of the other commodities.Similarly, long queues have resurfaced in most petrol stations in Makurdi and its environs.This development has given black market operators the opportunity to hike the price of fuel which is being sold at N90 while fuel is sold at the official rate of N65 in major fuel stations in the state capital, Oturkpo, Katsina Ala and Gboko.In another development, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), has linked the sudden appearance of queues by motorists at some retail outlets in Abuja to the usual end-of-the month sanitation and the restriction of movement during the just concluded general election.The PPPRA said that the movement situation on all the election days was also identified as a major contributing factor to logistic challenges for transporters coupled with the return of Abuja inhabitants after the serial free-working days, adding that all contributed to the sudden upsurge in the demand for fuel over the weekend.It said that information available from petroleum marketers confirmed that there were abundant products available in major surrounding depots servicing the Federal Capital Territory, particularly, Suleja.Them PPPRA, however, said that petroleum products were being lifted and distributed to all available retail outlets without any hindrance.
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