MINISTER of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, yesterday, said the ongoing fuel scarcity in the country would permanently come to an end by the second week of April. He also apologised for his comments last week that the feul scarcity will end in May. His words: “I share the pains of Nigerians, I feel that pain everyday when I walk the streets: on Easter day, I was in Lagos monitoring fuel distribution and the depots, I had given 24 hours attention to the problems. “I have continued to work with one sole purpose, which is that every problem must have a solution and I think that is the reason I was picked.
“I do apologise for the comment that I made jocularly with my friends in the press about being a magician and it offended Nigerians; it was not meant to be, it was a side jocular issue. I did go on to explain what needed to be done, I did not know that it would create the kind of hyperbole (exaggeration) that it did. “Let me first admit that I am not a typically experienced politician, I am a technocrat: I come to work.
. “Some of the phraseologies that I may use, while being acceptable in the arena in which I play, obviously will not be acceptable in the public political arena. So, if any body’s sensibilities were offended by those, I totally apologise.” The minister equally said immediate resuscitation of the nation’s refineries to function to optimal level was one of the panaceas to the fuel scarcity.
This came as he said he had no intention of resigning from his position over last week’s comment that the commodity would remain scarce till May, which attracted criticisms from some All Progressives Congress, APC, stalwarts, with some calling for his resignation. He, therefore, asked those sponsoring people to Abuja to protest to that effect to save their money for different things useful to their lives. Kachikwu apologised for his last week’s comment that the ongoing petrol scarcity will continue till May, adding that it was only “magic” that could bring a faster remedy to end the scarcity.
The minister, at a meeting with the Senate Committee on Petroleum, yesterday, insisted that the scarce commodity would be readily available across the country by the second week of April. I was thoroughly coached on what to say But he declared that he was told on what to say when he appeared before the Senate committee, saying what he was reeling out to the committee was what he was asked to say from the coaching, although he did not disclose those who coached him. Asked by members of the committee to give dateline on when Nigerians should expect the petroleum products in full, Kachikwu said: “I was thoroughly coached before coming to this meeting. But there is a potential answer to this question.
First is a political answer, which says we are doing our very best to go away from this situation but the training in me never attempts to be very exact because I set a goal post. “All I can say as an amendment to that is that in the month of April, within the first two weeks of April, we would have this issue completely resolved and you will not have this problem anymore. “I am working very hard to make it the first week in April, it’s not going to happen in March and all am doing right now is logistics arrangements to try and cushion the pains as much as I can and Nigerians can help me by not double buying.
“But, once we begin to get into the 5th, 6th of April, you will see a dramatic change in all this. Sometimes it is difficult to change your skin at an old age. So I tend to tell the truth the way it is even if I get into trouble in the cause of doing them. “But the reality, distinguished senators, is that we are doing everything humanly possible, nothing is out of the table, no solution is thrown into the trash bin and we have got to a point where we can confidently say we are bound to see the last days of some of these occurrences in our history.”
