OWN CORRESPONDENT, Abuja | Friday 10.00pm.
THE Nigerian government on Friday conceded that it in the past “diverted” much of the fuel intended for the country’s fuel-starved domestic market.
Speaking to reporters on Friday after a meeting of the top military body, the Provisional Ruling Council, council spokesman Major-General John Mark Inienger admitted that past regimes allowed “diversion” of fuel to take place.
“We have discovered that there has been a lot of diversion,” he said, adding that the two-month regime headed by General Abdulsalam Abubakar “will involve security agencies to ensure that there is effective distribution of petroleum [in the future].” Inienger also promised that the refinery at Kaduna, in northern Nigeria, would resume production “in the next few weeks.”
One of the world’s largest oil producer, Nigeria has for several years suffered crippling fuel shortages — widely attributed to corruption, and mismanagement at the country’s four refineries — that leaves Nigerians regularly having to spend days queuing to fill their vehicles.
* The PRC met for nearly five hours on Friday to discuss the formation of a long-awaited new government, but broke up without any announcement being made. The PRC, chaired by General Abdulsalam Abubakar, was expected to name a new list of government ministers to replace the ministers dismissed early last month. After the meeting Inienger also criticised the recent calls made by southern politicians for the army to be split up into regional units. “The issue of regional armies we consider a security breach,” he said.