If you have a gen or car, two things may have crossed your mind in the past two weeks. First, you’ve asked yourself why you’re still in this country for the 100th time.
Then, you’ve wondered why you’ve spent the past two weeks queueing at fuelling stations.
Well, the good news? We have all the details on the latter and we’re here with more updates. As for the former, we can’t really help you.
Pele, go and collect your PVC to vote in 2023.
Now, for the updates
The last time we had the resident big boys of Nigeria’s petroleum sector, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its ring leader, Mele Kyari, on the hot seat. Three main things went down:
- Earlier in February, adulterated fuel was imported and distributed to fuel stations across the country.
- There was a tussle with MRS over who was to blame for the oversight that led to the importation of contaminated fuel.
- In the heat of the drama, an alleged entanglement between NNPC’s trading arm, Duke Oil, and a fraudulent law firm in Panama surfaced on Twitter.
So right now, who’s fixing this mess ?
In the midst of all the “he said, she said” drama, NNPC assured Nigerians that 2.1 billion litres of methanol-free petroleum would be imported into the country to end the fuel scarcity in a few days. It’s been seven days since the update and well, your empty jerrican says it all.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, has apologised to Nigerians on behalf of the Federal Government and asked us to stay focused.
An excerpt from the speech: “It is not a time to trade blames as is customary in Nigeria. After the storm settles, there will be time enough to investigate and get to the bottom, so that this does not repeat itself.”
So technically, we’re still here.
Does it get better?
Not really. In the midst of the power outages and hike in transportation fares, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has threatened to go on strike due to the seemingly unending fuel scarcity.
Why is a strike from TUC problematic?
They are the senior brothers of ASUU, so you may want to put some respect on their name. TUC is a union for senior staff from various associations in Nigeria to coordinate activities in their industries.
If they decide to embark on this strike, buying fuel for ₦1000 per litre won’t be our only problem. We will see stores shutting down, shipping and clearing agencies closing up — essentially every union under TUC will pack up.
What is our designated bad boy, Uncle Bubu, doing?
Does he stop there? No. He goes further to say: “Nigeria has only witnessed one major fuel scarcity since the inception of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.”
Let me interpret
At least we still have Google
| Administration | Year | Challenge |
| Uncle Bubu | 2015 | Fuel scarcity |
| Uncle Bubu | 2016 | Fuel Scarcity |
| Uncle Bubu | 2017 | Fuel Scarcity |
| Uncle Bubu | 2019 | Fuel Scarcity |
| Uncle Bubu | 2021 | Fuel Scarcity |
So in other words, fuel scarcity is an annual event in the country, but according to Bubu’s PR squad, this is the first major one. Therefore, we all need to stop making noise.
So what next?
We can only wait to see the 2.1 billion barrels of fuel distributed and hope things return to “normal” soon.
Until then, stay glued to our daily updates on the chaos that is our beloved country, Nigeria, on Zikoko Citizen.
