The Managing Director of Pipeline & Product Marketing Company (PPMC) says the government plans to import 26 cargoes of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) which equates to about a billion litres.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Mrs Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, said that “we are doing that for the yuletide period so that all Nigerians would have the assurance that fuel would be available when they drive into any filling station.”

Talking about the issue of middlemen in contributing to the major lock jam, the PPMC MD said that “we have talked to the marketers and we heard unofficially that they have to buy products at higher rate than depot prices.

“We have gone to the security agents because if you don’t have evidence, you can’t build up the case.
“We are also working in the depots to see how to gather evidence so that we can prosecute one or two people. We have a fixed depot price which is N77.66 Kobo PMS and if they sell above that, it means they are distorting the economy which is an economy crime.”

Mrs Nnamdi-Ogbue, while stating the futuristic strategies the PPMC had put in place to avoid a recurrence, said that “what we have done and what we are doing is to have strategic reserves in the country on ground.
“What we had in time past are products in marine storage and to get them on ground has always been a challenge, but what we are doing right now is having strategic depots and storage across the country. When we have issues such as this, we are able to massively intervene immediately.”

In response to the question on what she has found out while moving around the country, the PPMC MD said that “I arrived at Lagos yesterday, we went round all our depots where we received products and we saw that loading was going on.

“We made spot checks at filling stations and saw that products came in late as a result of gridlock in Apapa.
“We also noticed that some people bought fuel in jerrycans while others were on the queues.
“For that, I have to apologies to Nigerians for having to go through the hardship they are going through right now and to let them know that PPMC is doing everything within its power to make sure these queues disappear by the weekend.”

Giving her opinion on the cause of the fuel scarcity, Mrs Nnamdi-Ogbue said that it is multiple.
“We have the pipeline, which is the more efficient way of transporting products being vandalised.
“PPMC is supposed to take care of about 48 per cent by Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) allocation, but we have to step up to make sure we serve the country 100 per cent.” (Channels TV)
•Photo shows sea vessel.