Fuel queues to end this week, says Kachikwu

•Kachikwu

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, yesterday said fuel queue will be over in Abuja and Lagos this week

He projected that queues in Kano, Katsina, Sokoto and Port Harcourt and other states will dissipate subsequently.

The minister also hinted of a price adjustment next month.

He told officials of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) in Abuja that the ministry will take the right decisions however hard they might be. He added that the government will prevent the return of the subsidy regime.

He said: “Today, we have the fuel queues and it is completely a nightmare for me. The reality is that I am hurt, I am very emotional about my job. And there isn’t still much. We just need to take the right policies as hard as they are and as difficult as they are to ensure we do not return to the policy of subsidy.

“And hopefully, tomorrow  /Thursday, the fuel queues in Abuja must be over and thereafter Kano, Katsina , Sokoto, Port Harcourt and other states.”

He added that there is price modulation that made government to save a lot of money in the first quarter which it will now use to fund the present excess.

“In May, there will be a slight adjustment to match the current trend.”

He explained that his major concern is not only the ongoing fuel queues but how to avoid a re-occurrence.

According to him, the Federal Government needs to build strategic fuel reserves that it has not done in the last 20 years.

Kachikwu said to avoid the reoccurrence, government needs to build strategic reserves for it to be able to respond to fuel shortage for six to nine days.

He said: “We need to find the allocation of the resources to be able to complement the majors to be able to bring in products. But that is not a futuristic long term solution and there is no better way than to steer to the path of privatization. And it is not necessarily synonymous to increase in price. “