Ibe Kachikwu attributes uavailability of forex, pipeline vandalism, subsidy payments as reasons for fuel scarcity

In a short video which he posted on his Facebook wall, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Ibe Kachikwu, explained why the fuel scarcity has persisted this long. According to him, unavailability of Forex, activities of pipeline vandals and the reduction in subsidy payment had adversely affected the importation of refined oil into Nigeria by many of the oil marketers

"First on resumption in August, we had a very major problem in our hand because subsidies of N500-N600 billion hadn't been paid for over a one year period of time. and so those who were importing had began to very quietly reduce the level of importation that they had and although I struggled very hard and got the Assembly approval and the President's approval to pay a good portion of that subsidy sometime in November, by then it was too late because although they got the money, they didn't have access to foreign exchange and so the critical reason why we have this supply gap today is that although NNPC has its own 445,000 barrels allocation of crude which is meant to meet 50% of your the country's delivery, the Individuals who should provide the remaining 50% are not bringing any product"he said

He identified incessant pipeline vandalization as a major factor responsible for the short fall in fuel supply

"The second problem is pipeline vandlization. If you look at the statistics of this year versus last year, we have had almost two times the number of pipeline disruptions that we have had over the last 2-3 years."

According to Kachikwu, no matter the transformation agenda of the government, issues of fuel scarcity have the tendency to bring down the polity and cause mayhem

"I have had to box my way to the CBN to get a bit of Foreign exchange because we provide a bulk of this foreign exchange and we should have a bit of it to help stabilize the situation because fuel queue, do not make any mistake about it, it doesn't matter what we achieve in our transformation agenda, is the single most difficult item which if not solved can bring down the polity and can create a mayhem here"he said.