Presidency on Tuesday in Abuja summoned critical stakeholders in the nation’s oil sector and the leadership of security agencies in the country over the fuel scarcity crisis, which lingered through Christmas celebration in Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the meeting, presided by the Chief of Staff to the President, Alhaji Abba Kyari, was held behind closed doors.
The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Petroleum, Mr Ibe Kachikwu, Director-General of the Directorate of State Service (DSS), Lawal Daura, and the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Maikanti Baru.
Others attendee of the meeting were the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Alhaji Muhammed Babandede, some presidential aides and other stakeholders in the oil industry.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on Jan. 1, during a nationwide broadcast, expressed sadness over the unnecessary hardships inflicted on Nigerians during the Christmas and New Year celebrations following acute petrol scarcity across the country.
He attributed the hardships to the activities of a few but heartless individuals working within the nation’s oil and gas sector.
Buhari, however, reiterated the determination of his administration to get to the root of the persistent petrol scarcity, and ensure that whichever groups were behind this manipulated blackmail would be prevented from doing so again.
The scarcity is said to be caused by greedy marketers who tried to take undue advantage of the high inter-state movements during the season.
Although Baru on Friday promised that Nigerians would not get into the New Year with the scarcity of petroleum products, aside lagos and Abuja, where fuel queues physically disappeared, the scarcity still lingered on in many parts of the federation.
