Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that it is a shame that Nigerians are celebrating this year’s Christmas in fuel scarcity-induced discomfort.
He made this known at an interaction he had with customers spending the night to purchase fuel at two filling stations in Lagos on Sunday.
According to Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, the Vice President was at Oando filling station in Lekki and Heyden filling station in Victoria Island to commiserate with the customers.
He said, “It’ s such a shame that Christmas has been, to some extent , with this sort of discomfort.
“This is deeply regretted, and l know that, despite the resilience and strength of people in Lagos and the Nigerian people, we would see ourselves through this and will enjoy our Christmas and have a great new year,” the Vice President was quoted as saying.
He added, “ We are trying to move as quickly as we can . Obviously , people have gone through a lot of pain and anguish in the past few days , and that is deeply regretted.
“We are trying to do what we can to move as quickly as possible and there is certainly enough products to be able to solve the problem.
“We will be able to solve the problem ; the short period of scarcity is quite a bit of burden , but we know that so long as products are enough and the trucks coming out and feeding the stations, this will be over very soon.
“I am going around with the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources here in Lagos to ensure that first , the trucks are being loaded from all the depots, and also looking at the filling stations to see that things are moving on very well.
“The GMD of the NNPC is also working in Abuja to see that things are moving quickly and we are moving around the country. So we expect that it will be resolved very quickly.
“Christmas is a time of cheer , joy , and hope for the coming New Year . Many people would love to be around their families, but regrettably , cannot because of the inadequacies in the fuel supply in different parts of the nation.
“This is something that President Buhari is deeply concerned about , mandating all relevant persons to bring an end to the fuel queues.
“I witnessed first – hand the discomfort that many of us have to contend with . We sympathise with you and we are working assiduously to eliminate this pain in the shortest possible time.
“We regret this inconvenience while assuring you that all hands are on deck to return things to normalcy.
“I do hope that you still find time to reflect on the miracle of Christmas to lift your spirit and that of your family. God bless you and God bless our great nation.”