NARTO, PTD applaud Baru for zero fuel scarcity, settlement of N80bn freight bills

By Etuka Sunday

The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), and the Petroleum Tankers Drivers (PTD) branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, have commended the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,
NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, for ensuring seamless supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country.
Speaking during a visit to the GMD by the associations, the NARTO President, Alhaji Kassim Ibrahim Bataiya, and Chairman of PTD, Chief Otumba Oladiti, were unanimous in their views that fuel supply and distribution matrix had improved under Dr. Baru’s watch.
According to Alhaji Bataiya, never in the history of the NNPC did the country record such an achievement which has brought about uninterrupted supply of petroleum products nationwide due to the various strategic measures undertaken by the GMD “Petroleum products scarcity has now disappeared from our filling stations. In fact, the retail price of the product has also come down from N145 per litre to N143 per litre. You have also extended considerable assistance to transporters by allocating Automotive Gas Oil, (AGO), at subsidized prices to enable them keep their trucks on the road,’’ he said.
A statement by the NNPC’s spokesman, Ndu Ughamadu quoted the NARTO President to have also thanked Dr. Baru for the settlement of their freight bills of about N80 billion owed by the Petroleum Equalization Fund, PEF, Management Board.
PTD Chairman, Chief Otumba Oladiti, while re-echoing the zero fuel queue strides of the GMD, noted that the sanity brought to bear on the fuel supply and distribution by Dr. Baru should be extended to the refineries said to be scheduled for rehabilitation.
While urging the GMD and the NNPC Management to remain focused on their mandate to the country, Chief Oladiti assured Dr. Baru of the tanker drivers’ due support.
Responding, Dr. Baru thanked the members and leadership of the associations for their kind words, noting that his team would do all it could to remain focus.