The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has said that the immediate past government of Goodluck Jonathan, oil marketers and vandals should be blamed for the recurring fuel scarcity that has plagued the nation for several weeks.
The persistent fuel scarcity that has lasted for weeks according to the minister is the sins of the last administration Nigerians have to pay for.
Speaking on Monday, Lai Mohammed said: “What I will be telling Nigerians is that what we met on ground is such that we are paying for the sins of the last administration. I am being very serious.
“You remember that about two weeks ago, we had to go to the National Assembly for a supplementary budget of N674 billion.
“Of that figure, N522 billion was for arrears of fuel subsidy which was incurred as far back as August last year.
“One of the reasons for the fuel scarcity was the inability of the last government to make adequate provision for fuel subsidy.
“We do face some other logistic problems but majorly we are paying for the sins of the last administration.”
He however, revealed that the current administration is taking definite measures to resolve the fuel crisis.
He noted that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is now involved in importation of fuel as opposed to when the marketers imported major percentage of the product.
The Minister further said that the government decided to start importing because some of the marketers had stopped importing for a couple of months.
“If you see any fuel anywhere today, it is imported by the NNPC. We also inherited the vandalism of the pipeline which has made it impossible for us to even transport the fuel.
“In tanks today we have 14 days reserve and off tank, we have 10 days reserve.
“The issue is not non-availability of the product; it is the distribution, because of pipelines that have been vandalised and the gridlock in Lagos; it takes about five days for anybody to take fuel with tanker in Lagos.
“As at two days ago this matter has been resolved. The Mosinmi pipeline has been secured and it has led to the improvement in the distribution,’’ the minister said.
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