Unscrupulous dealers behind scarcity - Kachikwu (Nigeria News)

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– The minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu says the federal government plans on making sure only truckers who can install trackers on their trucks are allowed to convey petroleum products

– Kachikwu pleads with Nigerians to exercise more patience on the grounds that his ministry and the NNPC are working hard to proffer long-term solutions to the fuel supply problem...

– Urges the private sector to play a more
crucial role in the oil sector to unburden
with the entire work of the NNPC
The minister of state for petroleum
resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has blamed
unscrupulous dealers for the ongoing fuel
scarcity experienced across the nation.
Minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu
has accused dealers of diverting trucks
conveying petroleum products to Cameroon
and Chad.

Kachikwu speaking at a town hall meeting
organised by the Federal Ministry of
Information, Culture and Tourism on Monday,
April 25, said some dealers were diverting
trucks conveying petroleum products to
Cameroon and Chad, resulting in the biting
scarcity, The Nation reports.

READ ALSO: Kachikwu asks Nigerians to
recite loyalty pledge after meeting
He said: “I have had countless sleepless
nights. I work round the clock to solve this
problem because whatever touches you
touches me. Over 30 per cent of fuel is
diverted to Chad and Cameroon. But I continue
to oversupply and you see some people
making money out of the agony of Nigerians.
“What we met on the ground when we came
was complete lack of transparency but we
have worked to put everything in order. 

The
loss of N300 billion by the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has been
reduced to N3billion, subsidy payment been
reduced to near zero. We are focusing on
business, not bleeding the government.”
As a way of solving the problem of truck
diversion, the minister said the federal
government was planning to make sure that
only truckers who can install trackers on
their trucks are allowed to convey petroleum
products.

The Punch reports that Kachikwu also
pleaded with Nigerians to exercise more
patience, adding that his ministry and the
NNPC were working hard to proffer long-
term solutions to the fuel supply problem.
READ ALSO: Photo news: Buhari’s ministers
attend town hall meeting in Lagos
“Do not judge our work on the basis of the
difficulties you have had in fuel supply. I love
your patience, I appreciate it; we are working
feverishly at solutions. We are looking at
intelligent solutions,” he said.
Kachikwu stressed the need for the private
sector to play a more crucial role in the oil
sector, noting that NNPC was currently
burdened with the entire work of supply and
regulation.

In another development, data obtained from
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), show
Nigeria’s oil revenue dropped from N1.114
trillion to N1.86 trillion in the 2015 fiscal
year.

The N1.114 trillion decline represents 18.35
per cent of Nigeria’s 2016 budget estimate
of N6.07 trillion, and is attributable to the
low price of oil in the international market,
which saw the price of commodity dropping
to as low as $30 per barrel.

According to the CBN Statistical Bulletins for
the first, second, third and fourth quarters of
20115, at N1.859 trillion, the country’s crude
oil revenue for the 2015 fiscal year dipped
by 37.47 per cent from N2.973 trillion
recorded in 2014.
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