Scarcity: Relief As NNPC Releases 300 Trucks Of Petrol To Lagos

…Additional 200 Trucks Coming To Abuja

Hopes by Nigerians about the disappearance of fuels queues were on Wednesday rekindled by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd following the release of about 300 trucks of petrol to Lagos and it’s environs, THE WHISTLER can report.

Fuel queues had resurfaced in Lagos on Monday and neighboring states, following the disruption of movements of tankers caused by the flooding in Lokoja and other states.

The floods had submerged a greater part of the country, killed over 600 people, displaced over 1.4 million people and grounded vehicular movements in 21 states.

This had affected the distribution of petroleum products to the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and some other neighboring states.

But in swift response to the distribution challenge caused by the flooding, the NNPC has released additional 300 trucks of Premium Motor Spirit to Lagos.

The 300 trucks, according to findings, is expected to reduce the supply gap and increase the availability of the products.

This, according to THE WHISTLER findings would help to reduce the fuel queues within the next two days.

Findings further revealed that about 200 trucks of petrol will soon arrive Abuja for distribution of petroleum products.

The trucks, it was learnt, are already at Lapai in Niger State.

Findings also revealed that in addition to the release of petrol trucks, the NNPC is intervening with the rehabilitation of sections of the damaged roads through the Executive Order 007, which was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.

The NNPC is investing in about 1,824 kilometres of roads across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria.

The road construction project which is being executed under the tax credit scheme is funded through the Federal Inland Revenue Service

Under the programme, the NNPC will construct a total of 1,804.6 kilometres of roads at a total cost of N621,237,143,897.35.

A breakdown of the project funding showed that the North-Central geo-political zone got the highest chunk of N244.87bn for the construction of 791.1 kilometres of roads.

The North-Central is made up Benue, Federal Capital Territory, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau State.

The South-South geo-political zone emerged the second highest beneficiary of the NNPC Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment project with the sum of N172.02bn for a total of 81.9 kilometres of road.

The zone is made up of Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross-River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers state.

The South-West followed with a total allocation of N81.87bn for the construction of 252.7 kilometres of roads.

The region is made up of Ekiti, Lagos, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, and Oyo State.

Similarly, the NNPC allocated the sum of N56.12bn to the North-East for the construction of 273.35 kilometres of roads under the scheme.

The states expected to be covered under this zones are Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe.

For the South-East geo-political zone, the sum of N43.28bn was earmarked for the construction/rehabilitation of 122 kilometres of road.

The zone is made up of five states and they are Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu,and Imo.

Further breakdown of the NNPC schedule showed that the North-West geo-political zone which is made up of Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Jigawa, and Zamfara got the least allocation.