News
‘We Celebrated Christmas At Filling Stations’
The persisting fuel scarcity forced thousands of motorists in Abuja to celebrate their Christmas at various filling stations across the city.
As early as 3:00am, hundreds of motorists had queued at the NNPC mega stations and other retail outlets owned by independent marketers within the metropolis, long before the dispensing staff resumed about 5:00am.
Interestingly, some retail outlets have commenced a 24-hour operation, just as the Federal Government had directed all depots to run round the clock to enable rapid lifting of petrol to serve all the states across the country.
Aside the NNPC mega stations, some major marketers like Conoil, MRS and Oando located within the Wuse area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had petrol, but with the usual frightening queues.
Sola Oladeinde, an IT expert said: “Aside December 25 being Christmas Day, it’s also my birthday. I was born 43 years ago and this 2017 Christmas and my birthday is the worst. I’ve been here at this Conoil opposite the NNPC headquarters since 5:00am and this is 3:00pm, yet I’ve not bought fuel. I learnt at a point they stopped selling to enable them off-load or something. This is my worst experience. No money, no petrol even at N200/litre, no light, no jobs. And they’re showing a human side of the President meaning he has been inhuman. I’ve never seen a nightmare like this all my life,” he lamented.
Maxwell Lloyd, a banker also groaned: “My children were still sleeping when I sneaked out of the house with jerry cans in my vehicle and began hunting for fuel. There’s no sign of Christmas at all. Virtually all men are trapped in filling stations.
“They said we should watch the human side of Buhari; where is the electricity? Where is the fuel to run the generators? Is this life? This is 3:30pm, no fuel yet. I bought N4,000 for this compressed 10-litre jerry can. I’m tired of this promises without action.” he said.
Meanwhile, the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru has urged Nigerians to exercise patience as the scarcity nightmare will be addressed before the end of the year.
“We’re back on drawing board to look at what is happening. We’ll do all we can to bring things to normalcy.
“The initial queues were caused by the rumours of a purported planned price hike of petrol; and then there was panic buying. From there, there was hoarding and then diversion of products to neighbouring countries for the price increase to materialise.
“It was later normalised, and then rekindled by the PENGASSAN strike, which was called off after people already nursed the fear of price hike.
“But, now, we’ve instructed a 24-hour sales at depots. Major marketers have also been advised to truck out products in a 24-hour operations.
“We’ve increased daily supplies to 45 million litres even though the average daily consumption is 27-28 million litres. We will deliver 300 million litres for rest of the month. Again, over the last weeks, truck capacity has been beefed up.
“NNPC is right now about the sole importer of petrol in the country since the landing cost has increased to N171.40k with high exchange rate.
“We’ve scaled up monitoring activities to ensure compliance to delivery to stations and that petrol sells at the appropriate price of 145/litre,” he said.
News
I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
News
RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
News
Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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