NNPC deploys additional fuel trucks to end FCT scarcity

…As PPPRA gets 2nd acting ES

From Dennis Mernyi, Abuja

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Monday announced the deployment of additional trucks of petrol to arrest the emerging fuel queues in some filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The NNPC in a statement explained that it increased the fuel truck-out to Abuja and environs from the usual average of 160 trucks per day to 250 trucks (8.25 million litres) to arrest the lull experienced due to last weekend’s State House of Assembly re-run election in Niger State, which affected truck movement from the Suleja depot.
While calling on members of the public to refrain from all forms of hoarding, diversion and panic buying of petroleum products, the Corporation assured of availability of petrol to meet the demand of consumers in Abuja and beyond.
“Apart from the additional injection of volumes of petrol into the market, the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) has stepped up monitoring across fuel stations to ensure strict compliance with laid down rules and regulations on the sales and distribution of petroleum products,’’ NNPC stated.
The scarcity of the products has hit the  nation’s capital from Sunday, February 21 causing some fuel stations in the city to remain locked as at the time of this report, while some with products had long queues with motorists having to wait for hours before buying.
Meanwhile, the Presidency has appointed a new acting Executive Secretary (ES) for the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA). She is Mrs. Sotonye Iyoyo, who has already taken over from Mr. Moses Mbaba, the General Manager in charge of Administration and Human Resources who took over from Farouk Ahmed last week following his sack along with 25 other heads of government agencies by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The new acting PPPRA scribe, Daily Sun learnt, was accompanied Monday afternoon to the head office of the agency by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Jamila Shu’ara where she held a brief meeting with the management staff of the agency in the absence of Mbaba, the former acting scribe who was a way to Lagos on official assingment.
Daily Sun checks reveal that Mbaba was in Lagos for official duty and had no knowledge of the posting of the new Executive Secretary.
It was further learnt that ‎the new acting PPPRA boss came with a letter of deployment from the Office of the Secretary to the Federal Government.
‎The newly posted scribe, Mrs Sotonye Iyoyo, it was learnt, has been deployed from the Port Harcourt Refinery and Petrochemicals.