Lingering Fuel Scarcity And The Many Lies Of Kachikwu Ibe.

"God willing we will see this through and in the next one or two days we should be clear . It is going to take a bit of while for the queues to disappear and we are hoping that between tomorrow and the next one , two days, the queues will disappear", was the statement
made by Mr. Kachikwu Ibe (NNPC, Group-Managing Director and Minister of State For Petroleum) on March 13 concerning the fuel crisis currently experienced by Nigerians.

Fast forward to March 23, and Kachikwu has changed the entire statement made 10 days earlier saying : "One of the training I did not receive is that of a magician but I am working very hard to ensure some of these issues go away. And let's be honest for the five, six months we have been here, NNPC has moved from a 50 percent importer of products to basically a 100 percent importer. And the 445 barrels that were allocated was to cover between 50 and 55 percent importation", he concluded that the fuel scarcity might last till May.

This is coming at a time power supply has been erratic at most and Nigerians all depend on Chinese manufactured generating set machine which uses petrol to power their homes in the absence of electricity . For a country dubbed as Africa's highest crude oil producer , it is pathetic that at a time crude oil price has gone down and become readily available in other countries who are even non-oil producing , the reverse is the case in Nigeria. Also at a time smaller West African countries who do not boast the economy or crude oil natural reserves Nigeria has (Ghana and Benin) have gone months and even years with uninterrupted power supply .

Nigerians cannot forget the heaven and earth promises the present government made to them before the 2015 elections and how the previous government was roundly criticised for importing 50 percent of products. In the new administration according to the statement the  Minister made, the refineries which were not fully functioning in the last administration have all totally packed up and hence the country's current importation of 100 percent products. This means that all the products used in the country today have been imported as the refineries the new government announced had been working to full capacity last year have packed up again. Is it a coincidence or was the statement that the refineries were working to full capacity all part of it's 'Propaganda'?

One does not need to be told that behind every lie told by the minister lies a hidden truth. At the same time while resisting the temptation to compare the previous administration with the present one, it should be noted that after more the six years of the governance of Dr Goodluck Jonathan , never did Nigerians experience any fuel scarcity except for the few weeks to his exit , which looked like conspired effort to frustrate his administration  by certain faceless individuals.

Kachikwu and his boss the president , must explain how the refineries quickly packed up just five months into their administration , while it was working for six years in the previous administration though not in full capacity. While we are still in March, it is going to take another 37 days before we get to May, meaning that our problems will linger for long  before solutions could be effectively proffered. This really shows deep insensitivity by the administration and must be condemned by all.