Martin Onovo, Petroleum Engineer and presidential candidate of the defunct National Conscience Party, NCP, in the 2015 general elections, said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should seek more loans to end the ongoing Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) Scarcity.
Onovo disclosed this on Tuesday in a Channels Television interview while reacting to NNPCL’s admittance of financial strain due to fuel supply costs.
Recall that on Sunday, the NNPCL spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, in a statement admitted that the company is facing financial strain reason of the prolonged fuel scarcity.
The admittance came weeks after the company had denied owing international oil suppliers $6.8 billion.
Reacting to the NNPCL’s admittance of financial constraints, Onovo noted this showed the level of incompetence in the state-owned oil firm.
Speaking on a solution, he said that if PMS vessels by suppliers are already within the country, the nation through NNPCL can seek additional loans to take care of the financial burden.
“This had been leaked a month ago but was technically denied. Now that they have admitted, we can start thinking of how to fix it.
“We don’t have the details of the logistic situation right now. Do we have a vessel coming with the product or a vessel already within the country’s territory?
“If the vessel is close by, it is easy to solve the problem. The NNPCL can borrow again to cover the shortfall, but until we do the right thing, we won’t get the right result,” he said.
Recall that Nigeria through NNPCL had received a $925 million loan from the $3.3 billion crude-oil-backed loan from the African Export-Import Bank secured in August last year.
This comes as a report emerged in July 2024 that NNPCL targets another $2.2 billion crude oil-backed loan.
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