Tell politicians to allow Kachikwu do his work’

ABUJA – CHAIRMAN, House House of Representatives Committee on Information, Rep Segun Odebunmi yesterday blamed the Federal Government of not being proactive in tackling the lingering fuel scarcity in the country that has adversely affected the economy.

The lawmaker also expressed disappointment that despite the assurance by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu that the lingering fuel scarcity would disappear in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, within seven days, the long queues still persisted in filling stations.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Rep Odebunmi told politics to allow the Minister of State for Petroleum who is knowledgeable in oil and gas matters to do his work and not to distract him.

According to him, “The government should allow those who know how to run the petroleum sector to do their work, the politicians should step aside a little bit so that the career officers in NNPC can do their work, the control is getting too much, let us think of how to solve this problem before any other thing. Nigerians are suffering and in pains.

“The state minister of state for petroleum came out to tell Nigerians that the queue in the filling stations will vanish today (Thursday) but the queue is still persisting up till today but the truth is that it is not the making of the Minister of Petroleum, the problem is that the system is collapsing perhaps due to lack of trust in the system.

“Nigerians know that we don’t refine oil, we only import so the moment there is a break in the importation of this fuel, Nigerians will suffer for it but the present administration is exhibiting lack of trust and I believe this has caused this problem for Nigerians, so this problem is man made by those people in the system.

“During former President Goodluck Jonathan tenure a lot of those that are in the system right now were always shouting that the money given to oil subsidy was too much.

“Now coming on board with the new government they want to look for ways to reduce the money, in Nigeria today we have up to 15 million cars plying the roads on daily basis, but whereby they think the amount used for importation of fuel is too much and then looking for ways to reduce the amount, it won’t work.”