Nigeria’s Deputy Oil Minister, Sylva, blames imported dirty fuel to regulatory failure.

By Derrick Bangura.

Mr. Timipre Sylva, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum, blamed regulatory failure for the country’s present petrol crisis on Sunday, blaming Nigerians for losing man-hours in long fuel lines around the country.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Mr. Horatius Egua, the minister urged Nigerians to be patient until the development’s mess was cleared up.
Sylva emphasized that all interested parties were currently working to restore the supply chain to its default settings, and she warned against playing the blame game.

The substance, which caused damage to multiple cars and disrupted the country’s fuel supply network, was imported from Antwerp, Belgium, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd.

Sylva expressed sadness that Nigerians were going through unjustified hardships in order to obtain the commodity, noting that the issue required a collaborative response.
“In recent weeks, Nigerians have struggled with fuel scarcity, not because of a lack of product supply, but because of inspection failure, which let contaminated items into the country,” he stated.
“This is sad, and the federal government sympathizes with citizens who are experiencing unforeseen hardship as a result of the looming scarcity.” Let me appeal to Nigerians once more to be patient with the administration as it seeks long-term answers to the situation.

“We applaud the NNPC for expressing genuine compassion for Nigerians’ predicament by issuing an apology.” This is unprecedented, and it demonstrates that we, as a government, are not scared to accept responsibility.

“The Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has been out on the streets, filling station after filling station, to guarantee that the situation returns to normal as soon as possible, and we are seeing the results of their efforts.”
“This is a time when collective action is required to save a scenario that was not anticipated. It is not the time, as is typical in Nigeria, to trade blames. As a result, it is not the time to question anyone, but rather to band together to help the average Nigerian,” he said.
According to the minister, once the storm passes, there will be ample time to examine and get to the bottom of the matter so that it does not happen again.
“Mr. President’s charge to all parties and agencies involved is to work together to ensure that normalcy returns as soon as possible,” he continued.

“The Nigerian people deserve the best, and President Muhammadu Buhari’s government is committed to putting the country on the right track in terms of petroleum product availability and sustainability, as evidenced by the awarding of contracts for the rehabilitation of all our refineries and the purchase of a stake in the Dangote Refinery. “Let us as Nigerians stand shoulder to shoulder in our shared quest for a greater country.”
Mallam Mele Kyari, the NNPC Group Managing Director, had declared in Abuja that the supply of fuel would normalize across the country in “a few days,” stressing that at least 2.3 billion gallons of the commodity would berth in Nigeria by the end of February.
Several filling stations in Abuja began selling the goods over the weekend, while huge lines remained in all of the city centers.