News in brief: Mele Kyari, CEO of NNPC, expressed concern about panic buying following President Tinubu’s fuel subsidy announcement. He has assured the public of sufficient fuel supply.
The Group CEO of NNPC, Mele Kyari, has decried the panic buying that followed the fuel subsidy announcement by President Tinubu. The former Lagos state governor cleared the air about his administration’s plan during his inaugural address in Abuja.
While he mentioned several things and made many points, the fuel subsidy news dominated major airways all through Monday. Given the commodity’s importance to transportation and power generation, the interest does not come as a surprise.
However, an outcome of the announcement was the reappearance of long queues in filling stations barely hours after it made the news.
In response, Kyari issued a statement backing Tinubu’s announcement. “We welcome the decision of Mr. President to announce that the subsidy on PMS is over and this has really been a major challenge for the NNPCLâs continued operation. We have been funding the subsidy from the cash flow of the NNPCL,” he said.
He then criticised the reaction, assuring Nigerians that there is no need to panic. He said that there will be enough fuel in the country to satisfy their needs. “We understand that people will be scared of potential changes to the price of petrol. But that is not enough for people to rush to fuel stations to buy more than what they need,” the NNPC boss added.
NNPC Limited welcomes the decision by the Federal Government to remove subsidies on PMS.
Addressing the press, the GCEO of NNPC Limited, @MKKyari noted that the removal of the subsidy, which has been a burden on NNPC Limited's cash flow, will free up funds to enable optimal⦠pic.twitter.com/a6VsPlzNIS
— NNPC Limited (@nnpclimited) May 30, 2023
Meanwhile, from social media posts gathered on Monday, there is an explanation for the panic. Several reports claim that many filling stations closed their gates after the fuel subsidy news. Thus, it resulted in crowding the few that remained open. To avoid going through the same hassle, customers resorted to buying more than they immediately needed.
There are already underlayers of complaints from retailers as well who are lamenting cost of transportation to get their goods from suppliers too on Tuesday.
Kyari says that the NNPC is monitoring its distribution networks and believes things will return to normal soon. Hopefully, it happens quick enough to prevent an overall hike in food and other items price(s).
