The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has directed relevant agencies to embark on special supply of petroleum products to ensure country-wide availability at Yuletide.
This was contained in a statement signed by Ohi Alegbe, the Group General Manager of Group Public Affairs Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, in Abuja on Sunday.
The agencies are the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.
It said the special supply intervention mechanism would entail the ramping up of additional supply via massive truck-out to guarantee product penetration to the nooks and crannies of the country teed-off over the weekend.
It added that daily fuel truck out to Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Enugu, Ibadan and Jos had been increased significantly to enhance free flow of products across the country.
The statement said: “NNPC is consolidating its strategic alliance with some major depot owners and oil marketers with strong regional logistics outlay in those areas to ensure maximum infiltration of products.
“The collaboration would be especially in the hinterland ahead of the Christmas and New Year festivities.”
It called on the public to refrain from hoarding, diversion and panic buying of product.
It added that the intervention measure would help circumvent the challenges posed by the unavailability of pipelines for the transportation of petroleum products.
It noted that product diversion was an economic crime and warned that it would not hesitate to report offenders to the security agencies for prosecution.
NAN.
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