By Emmanuel Addeh
The leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has met with petrol tanker owners in the country on how both organisations can collaborate on ensuring unfettered supply of petroleum products to Nigerians.
The corporation recently increased the daily supply of petrol across the country from 550 trucks to 1,661 trucks, to combat the build-up of fuel queues in some parts of the country earlier in the week.
It had earlier met with Petrol Tanker Drivers (PTD) to avert an industrial action which had started causing long fuel queues, which the drivers attributed to matters bordering on their welfare by their employers.
During the meeting with the group of petroleum tanker owners in Nigeria under the auspices of the Association of Distributors and Transporters of Petroleum Products (ADITOP), Group Managing Director of the corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari, assured the businessmen of his continued cooperation to ensure Nigerians do not suffer unnecessary product scarcity.
A statement signed by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, NNPC, Dr. Kennie Obateru, noted that discussions basically centred on strengthening collaboration towards sustaining seamless supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country.
While welcoming the ADITOP leadership to the NNPC Towers, Kyari pledged to work with the petroleum products distributors to sustain the prevailing sanity in the downstream sector.
In his comments, the National President of ADITOP, Alhaji Lawal Mohammed, commended the NNPC for its unrelenting efforts to bring order into the downstream sector of the oil industry
Speaking during the visit to the NNPC headquarters, Mohammed expressed delight over the achievements recorded by the corporation under the leadership of Kyari, especially in the area of stakeholders’ engagement.
“This singular action of meeting with us defines you as a leader with limitless leadership humility and untiring capacity for encouraging the concept of stakeholder management and eagerness to carry us along in every public policy engagements of the NNPC concerning the oil and gas value chain,” Mohammed stated.
He pledged the group’s support for NNPC, stressing that they were ready to place their trucks and retail outlets at the disposal of the corporation for any pilot programme and investment initiative.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Gas Association (NGA), has presented the association’s “Ultimate Gas Promoter of the Year Award”, conferred on the GMD for his “notable contribution to the oil and gas industry”.
The award which was received from the NGA President, Mr. Ed Ubong, by Kyari, at the corporation’s headquarters was announced at the NGA conference, held in February, this year.
