The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has cautioned against panic buying of petroleum products despite an ongoing strike action by members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
The NNPC in a release stated that they had commenced talks with the leadership of the striking unions in a bid to address their grievances. The oil workers started an indefinite nationwide strike since Thursday.
‘‘The Corporation has in stock enough products enough products to satisfy local consumption requirements for the next 45 days noting that there is no need for motorists and other users of petroleum products to embark on frenzied wholesale purchase of fuel in anticipation of scarcity,’‘ the statement released on Saturday read.
Nigeria until recently was Africa’s biggest oil producer, yet the country imports all of its domestic gasoline and about 90 percent of petroleum products. Africa’s most populous nation is also no stranger to nationwide fuel shortages.
The country like other oil producing countries is reeling from a slump in global oil prices. The West African nation heavily depends on oil as its main forex exchange earner.
For a long time now, the country’s oil and gas sector has been marred by widespread corruption. It is in this regard that President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to tackle graft in the industry.
Buhari recently made changes at the NNPC, he replaced the Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as head of the NNPCgroup. Nigeria’s Barkindo was also elected as new general secretary of the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries. (OPEC)