By Favour Ndukwe and Mary Chibuzor
Some Federal Capital Territory (FCT) residents have urged the Federal Government to fix the nation’s refineries as part of the measures to end fuel scarcity in different parts of the country.
They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday that efforts of the Federal Government to ensure regular availability of fuel would not yield maximum results without fully functional refineries.
One of the respondents, Mr Jerry Okotie, a civil servant, said the bad state of the refineries had frustrated efforts of the government to address fuel scarcity.
Okotie also told NAN that the relevant government authorities should expand fuel storage facilities.
He said this would ensure that even in the event of a disruption in fuel supply by importers, the product would still be available as the cause of the disruption was being addressed.
“ There should be expansion of storage facilities through the innovation as well as the renovation of our refineries in the country to avoid scarcity of fuel“, he said.
Also speaking, Mr Adugba Godwin, an administrator at Cradle 2 Harvard International School, Abuja, expressed concern over the petrol scarcity.
Godwin said the scarcity began since the idea of subsidy removal was mooted, saying, however, that government had not removed it.
Mr Celestine Ihesiaba, a civil servant, wondered why Nigeria, an oil producing country, should continue to import petroleum products, especially Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
“Petroleum products importation is a major challenge because we have failed to make our refineries to function.
“The long term solution is that Nigeria should fix its refineries”, Ihesiaba said, adding that when we refine our products in Nigeria, we would not face the challenge of fuel scarcity. (NAN)
