The Senate on Monday summoned the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, to appear before it on Tuesday and explain the cause of the embarrassing fuel scarcity across the country.
The Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) summoned the minister after carrying out on-the-spot assessment of the fuel situation in major filling stations within the nation’s capital.
Members of the committee were confronted with long queues of vehicles at many filling stations despite the fact that the operators were not dispensing the fuel to motorists, alleging lack of supply from the NNPC Depot in Suleja.
The Acting Chairman of the committee, Senator Jibrin Barau, said the Petroleum Minister must definitely appear before his panel, to explain what led to the situation and way out of it.
He said the situation was so pathetic and bad, which made the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to call on the committee to swing into action as a way of baling Nigerians out of the crisis.
He said, “This situation is very bad and unacceptable, hence, the need for the Minister to appear before us tomorrow (today), and unveil his plan of way out to us.
“Even if he doesn’t have any plan yet out of the lingering problem, the Senate President and the entire members of the committee are more than ready to rub minds with him for that needed purpose.”
The Senate Minority whip and a member of the committee, Senator Philip Aduda, called on the Federal Government to arrest the situation fast, by making fuel available to Nigerians.