DAYS after government officials said they plan to “flood” Nigeria with Premium Motor Spirit, the formal name for petroleum, the Nigerian Ports Authority said on Thursday that eighteen tanker ships are waiting to berth and discharge petroleum products at various oil terminals within the Lagos ports.
A daily publication of the NPA, stated that 13 ships were laden with petrol.
According to a daily publication of the Port Authority, Shipping Position, two ships each are carrying kerosene and aviation fuel while one ship will discharge diesel.
The publication indicated that four other ships were waiting to discharge general cargoes, including rice and containers.
The publication further stated that 92 ships carrying different cargoes would arrive in Lagos ports between Sept. 26 and Oct. 22.
It added that 17 of the ships would convey petroleum products.
“NNPC has taken measures to end the current fuel scarcity being witnessed in Lagos and some other parts of the country,” said Dr. Omar Farouk, the general manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Sunday, September 23.
“Additional 200 trucks of petrol will commence loading and distribution of products on daily basis to ease the ongoing distribution challenges,’’ he added.
Farouk said that the corporation had a stock of petroleum products that could serve the country for many months.
“Currently, about 6.6 million litres of petrol is being distributed across the country on daily basis,’’ he said.
The NNPC spokesman said that one of the major challenges militating against effective distribution of petrol was the shutdown of the System 2B, which is a major pipeline that evacuates between nine to 11 million litres of fuel from Lagos to Ibadan, Ilorin and the northern part of the country.
“I want to assure Nigerians that the NNPC has stepped up fuel supply to marketers for effective and efficient supply of fuel to Nigerians,’’ he had said at the time.