Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Wednesday shocked Nigerians announcing that the current queues at gas stations will continue till the end of May.
In an interview with State House correspondents in Abuja, he said he was not a magician to make the queues disappear overnight.
Kachikwu alongside with officials of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) met with President Mohammadu Buhari at the Presidential villa, Abuja.
He said: “One of the trainings I did not receive is that of a magician but I am working very hard to ensure some of these issues go away. And let’s be honest, for the five, six months we have been here, NNPC has moved from a 50 percent importer of products to basically a 100 percent importer. And the 445 barrels that were allocated was to cover between 50 and 55 percent importation.
“So, it is quite frankly sheer magic that we even have the amount of products at the stations. We are looking to see how to get foreign exchange imput. The president and I discussed extensively on how to get more crude directed at importation.
His Excellency will rather have less crude but have individuals in the society suffer less with inconveniences than have more crude and have them continue to suffer.
Earlier this month, Kachikwu, gave assurances that the long queues at various petrol stations nation-wide will ease off in a matter of days.
