Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva has apologized to Nigerians over the scarcity of fuel that had lingered in the country for days now.
In a statement today, February 20 by his spokesman, Horatius Egwa, the Minister described the situation as “regrettable.”
He said that this time, the scarcity is not because of the absence of supply of products “but due to inspection failure, which allowed adulterated products into the country.”
He also expressed appreciation with the NNPC for showing so much concern to the plight of Nigerians by coming forward with an apology.
“This is unprecedented and shows that we on the government side are not afraid to take responsibility.”
The Minister stressed that the Federal Government is in sympathy with the citizenry over the hardship, occasioned by the scarcity.
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“Let me once again appeal to Nigerians to be patient with government in finding lasting solutions to the crisis.
It was earlier reported that, The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna State on Tuesday, asked the Minister of Petroleum Resources to either apologise to Nigerians or honourably resign over the recent scandal of adulterated fuel and scarcity.
Rev. John Joseph Hayab, Vice-Chairman, CAN Northern States, in a statement on Tuesday, said Nigerians should not continue to suffer due to the negligence and incompetence of people holding public offices.
He said the Christian Association was worried over the situation and would want to know who is responsible for the bad product and its scarcity.
The statement lamented that the continual scarcity of fuel in Nigeria and the pains of having adulterated fuel in circulation have further increased the hardship Nigerians are going through for about a month now.
“Were compelled to ask our Minister of Petroleum, what he and the ministry have done to avert and remedy this situation?” he asked
The statement said Nigerian citizens are considered to be the most patient people on earth because they have been enduring bad governance, poor service delivery which has led to deaths that could have been avoided by many family members, friends, and associates.
It stressed that Nigerians are battling insecurity, poverty and now fuel crisis while nobody has ever been held responsible for all the pains, sufferings and poor services.
