The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has urged Nigerians to be patient with the   government, which it said is working hard to resolve the protracted challenges of petrol scarcity before the end of May.

FEC said Wednesday that it meeting dwelt on short-term and long-term measures to revamp the nation’s moribund refineries before the end of 2017 and also put an end to importation of petrol by 2019.

FEC statement is against the backdrop of the lingering scarcity of petrol, which has almost grounded the economy given the loss of man-hour at fuel service stations across the nation.

The meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

FEC told that all refineries in the country would resume production fully by 2017 and that  plans  are being to reduce fuel importation by 60 per cent by 2018 before a total end to it by 2019.

In the short term, according to FEC,  petrol supply would be available before the end of May, with Port Harcourt and Kaduna Refineries supporting supplies.

FEC also sympathised with Nigerians on the hardship they face in long queues to get petrol at fuel service stations, blaming it on sabotage and fuel marketers who the Council claimed wanted to make quick money.

It directed the Department of Petroleum Resources to enforce correct pump prices, promising that 1,200 trucks of Premium Motor Spirit also referred to as petrol would be delivered daily to end scarcity.

The Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr Babtunde Fashola, blamed the power outages in the country on insufficient gas supply and vandalism of the Forcados Plants which resulted in a drop in power from 5,000 megawatts to 3,000 megawatts.

He  expressed confidence that the ministry would meet a target of 10,000 megawatts set by the president for 2019.