Worried by the current fuel scarcity across the country, President Umaru Musa Yar�adua yesterday ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to speed up their inspection of fuel cargoes awaiting discharge at the Lagos ports.
Speaking at a meeting with the chief executives and senior officials of the NNPC, DPR and SON late yesterday in Abuja, the president identified supply delays caused by the inspection as the main cause of the current scarcity of fuel across the country.
The three organizations and all other relevant government agencies were mandated to inspect fuel cargoes to ascertain the ethanol content of imported fuel, following the recent importation of fuel with 22 per cent ethanol instead of the standard five percent ethanol, by Oando plc.
A statement issued by the Special Adviser on Communications to the president, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi said President Yar�adua expressed “displeasure at the hardships ordinary Nigerians were undergoing as a consequence of the limited availability of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) across the country.”
President Yar�adua further directed that companies licensed to import fuel into Nigeria must be made to bear responsibility for ensuring that the fuel products they bring into the country meet acceptable standards.
He warned that his administration would not “tolerate a situation in which Nigerians are cheated and exposed to the hazards of adulterated fuel, he directed that companies found culpable must be severely punished.”
Meanwhile, the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), yesterday in Abuja, said petrol with 10 per cent ethanol concentration is safe for use.
This is contrary to the five per cent ethanol level in petrol approved by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
Mr. Reginald Stanley, the Managing Director of the PPMC, confirmed the safety level when he briefed the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum.
Stanley said the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) had gazetted five per cent minimum and 10 per cent maximum, as the quantity of ethanol allowed in petrol in Nigeria.