No plan to hike fuel price – NNPC

The pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS) will not be increased in January, the Acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs of the NNPC, Mr Fidel Pepple, has assured.

He gave the assurance on Sunday in Abuja while speaking with newsmen, restating that the Federal Government had earmarked some money for fuel subsidy in the 2013 budget.

Pepple also announced that the vandalised Ije-Ododo and Arepo pipelines in Lagos and Ogun had been restored.

“I can affirm to you that our engineers from the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Ltd. (PPMC), have finally fixed the Ije-Ododo pipeline that was ruptured last Monday by pipeline vandals.

“Going forward, the good news for Nigerians is that we have resumed pumping petroleum products through the pipeline and system 2B is equally working after the restoration of the pipeline,” he said.

Pepple assured motorists that with the restoration of the Ije-Ododo pipeline and the NNPC system 2B pipeline, normalcy had been restored in the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country.

The general manager said that pumping of the PMS had resumed in earnest to depots and tank farms in system 2B, spanning from Atlas-Cove in Lagos to Ilorin in Kwara. He described media reports that fuel scarcity and queues in some parts of the country might last beyond the New Year as “mischievous and misleading”.

Pepple said that that the NNPC was working hard to check fuel scarcity and eliminate queues at filling stations across the country. He attributed the long queues at filling stations to the activities of vandals and the closure of some filling stations, due to the Christmas holidays.

The spokesman said that the company had product sufficiency that could sustain the country for more than a month. He said the NNPC was working hard to supply PMS so as to ease the hardship of motorists before and after the New Year.

Pepple appealed to independent marketers to stop diverting petroleum products to the black market, saying that sanctions would be meted out to culprits.

The general manager stressed the need for marketers to team up with the NNPC in ensuring steady supply and distribution of petroleum products.

He also called on motorists to desist from panic buying and hoarding as the NNPC was doing its utmost to restore normalcy in the supply and distribution chain. (NAN)