22 ships carrying 374,339 tons of petrol arrive Lagos ports (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8915:22-ships-carrying-374339-tons-of-petrol-arrive-lagos-ports-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
The Federal Government's efforts to tackle the lingering fuel crisis in the country, may be yielding results as 22 ships laden with 374,339.09 metric tons of premium motor spirit (petrol) will be discharging at Lagos ports in the next three weeks. Out of the 22 ships, 13 are already waiting for berthing space to discharge their consignments; four are already off-loading their products at the oil facilities, while five are being expected at the country's territorial waters within the period. The increase in importation petrol operators say was in line with the directive from the Federal Government to address the long queues which have persisted at the filling stations across the country since November, last year.Three weeks ago, minister of petroleum, Rilwanu Lukman, had threatened to sack management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) if they failed to end the acute fuel shortage in the country within a week.According to Lukman, if the NNPC could not perform, the ministry would bring in people that could do the job. "It is important that the operatives within the NNPC who are responsible for ensuring the supply of fuel to the country sit up and do their job," he emphasised. Although, the filling stations across the country are selling the product at various prices, stakeholders say it was better to have petrol at higher price than not to see it at all.They regretted that the country had spent over N1.2 trillion in the last three years as subsidy, which had not reflected on the lives of Nigerians, stressing that government should fully deregulate the product as it was being done with diesel. "A situation where government sends over N600 billion yearly to subsidise the prices of petroleum products is not acceptable because the masses are not enjoying the benefit of subsidy", they explained.On his part, the managing director of Integrated Oil and Gas Limited, Emmanuel Iheanacho, said there was nothing again to fear about deregulation because the masses were dead and buried and could not suffer more than what they are passing through right now because of fuel scarcity. "Nigerians are tired of queuing everyday at the filling stations without any solution to their problems. Since government started deregulating diesel, the prices of the product have not gone beyond N90 and N100. So, the same will happen when deregulation of petrol starts", Iheanacho stated.
Source: Businessday :: News you can trust (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage)