Minister of Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu. (Photo: punch.ng)
To make matters worse, Dr. Kachukwu went further to tell Nigerians that their suffering will continue for the next two months since efforts being put in place by the Federal Government will not make the fuel queues disappear overnight:
“The President and I discussed extensively on how to get more crude directed at importation. His Excellency (Buhari) will rather have less crude but have individuals in the society suffer less with inconveniences than have more crude and have them continue to suffer.
“So we are going to put a new model to enable us to increase the pace and actually get majors as part of the crew of those to bring in more products so that the NNPC will sort of go back on the capacity of what it used to do and the majors will take over the balance of importation.”
Kachukwu’s remarks infuriated the people and triggered a groundswell of nationwide calls for his resignation. The agitations became so intense that even some top notch members of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) party joined the protest, urging him to apologize to Nigerians, which he did eventually, to calm down the tension and save his job.
The minister went further to claim that the problem would fizzle out just a few days from today on Thursday, April 7, but marketers and depot owners punctured that optimism, saying that consumers will endure more pains as steady and adequate supply of the product may not be feasible till May.
Amidst the unfolding fuel crisis, one thing that has not been in short supply is the avalanche of factors being identified as the root cause of the problem, as a cross section of stakeholders including organised labour, petroleum marketers, oil industry workers, manufacturers, experts in the oil sector as well as politicians, pass the buck at the doorstep of those they think should be blamed for the problem. While some point to a lack of adequate foreign exchange to enable the marketers to import fuel, others blame it on the country’s dysfunctional refineries; according to a few others, it is merely a supply challenge.
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the APC told journalists few days ago in Lagos that the immediate past ruling party at the national level, People Democratic Party (PDP), should take the blame for the lingering fuel scarcity, alleging further that the PDP destroyed Nigeria during its 16-year rule.
In his response, PDP National Publicity Secretary Olisa Metuh argued that the lingering fuel crisis is a clear indication that the APC merely hoodwinked Nigerians with empty campaign promises of eldorado in order to vote the party into power and in the end, has nothing but pain and suffering to offer.
SERAP has said it is time that President Muhammadu Buhari, who doubles as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, rose up to the occasion to find a permanent solution to the fuel scarcity crisis in Nigeria. While acknowledging that the fuel scarcity crisis predated the Buhari government, the group insisted that “the President must now urgently address the continuing problem of fuel scarcity and to ensure full and unhindered supply of fuel throughout the country by sorting out the refineries and addressing the systemic corruption in the sector. This is the time for President Buhari to address accountability issues around the fuel subsidy fraud.”
It also challenged Buhari to send a strong message to that his government will not tolerate a situation which permitted a few to enrich themselves at the expense of the masses who are subjected to growing poverty.
