… Again KYARI ASSURES QUEUES WILL DISAPPEAR IN DAYS
The House of Representatives has vowed to go after the companies that imported the adulterated fuel into the country.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC Limited
Mr Garba Deen Muhammad quoted
Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum, (Downstream), Hon. Abdullahi Mahmud Gaya has having given the assurance in a statement on Thursday night.
It was stated that Gaya “spoke during an engagement with management of the NNPC organised by the Committee on the current fuel situation in the country.”
The CEO/GMD, Mallam Mele Kyari, was said to have repeated his explanation before the Committee that tests conducted by the NNPC could not detect the fuel adulteration because Nigeria’s specifications do not include methanol.
He explained that it was impossible for the NNPC detect the excess methanol in the PMS with the test arrangement that excludes methanol.
“We are a law-abiding company. There is no way we could have known about the methanol presence. The only way we could have known about it is if our suppliers, in good faith, made the disclosure to us.
“In this particular instance, the discovery was made by our inspection agents who noticed the emulsification at the filling stations and brought it to our attention. Subsequent investigation revealed that the four cargoes which are all from the same source also contained methanol-blended PMS,” the CEO added.
Kyari explained to the committee that the discovery of methanol in the four PMS cargoes shipped to the country was at the root of the misery caused by the sudden fuel scarcity in the country.
The GMD who said that the company acted swiftly to trace the product and had them quarantined assured the Committee and Nigerians that measures have been put in place to accelerate fuel supply and distribution in the country.
He said that the NNPC had placed significant orders of over 2.1billion liters of methanol-free PMS to ensure the queues vanish in few days.
Kyari who sympathized with Nigerians on the current scarcity promised to give the necessary cooperation to the Committee and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) on the issue.