February 01, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has assured the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), of adequate fuel supply during the 2023 general elections.
Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari, gave the assurances when the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, led some top members of the Commission on a visit to his office to seek collaboration for the success of the February 25 and March 11 elections in the country.
INEC had raised the alarm that the ongoing fuel crisis across the country could hamper election-day logistics.
Yakubu had noted that the Commission is mobilising about 100,000 vehicles and 4,000 boats for the deployment of personnel and materials to 176,846 polling units spread across 8,809 registration areas (or electoral Wards) in 774 Local Government Areas nationwide.
“We will bear the cost of the products. By doing so, there will be a guaranteed supply for elections. We want a special arrangement with other marketers in locations where the NNPC may not have dedicated stations, and consider other options to support our seamless operations on election day,” Yakubu said on Tuesday, during his meeting with Kyari.
In his response, Kyari said: “We know that logistics is a major component of electoral duties. NNPC has always supported INEC, not in this direct form, but in making sure that fuel is made available to all vehicles that are involved in the electoral process.
“Needless to say that there was no formal framework for that, and there were no even exact formal requests for this. All the same, we are always conscious of the necessity to provide support to INEC whenever elections take place.
“In today’s very different situation, it is not just an honour to NNPC, It’s also a challenge to us, to come into the equation in making sure that we have a stable political system in our country and we’ll be happy to contribute to this.
“Much as even you are going to pay for the product that we’re going to deliver to you.
“Having said this Chairman, we’re the largest downstream company in the country today. Six months ago, it was not so but today, we have acquired huge assets since our incorporation into a limited liability company and we have spread across the country.
“That is not to say that we’re in every city and every town, it is possible that there may be some locations where we may not be present.
“We’ll work with your logistic team to identify those areas where we may not have a presence so that we can bring in other marketing companies into the conversation so that the products are made available to all the 100,000 vehicles that you have indicated.
“There will be no difficulty doing this Mr Chairman, we have a presence, we are everywhere. But where we are not, we will provide commercial conversation between the Commission and other marketing companies so that when you need this product, you will have it.
“Also, in addition to this, we are the only company that has floating mega stations in the country. We will also look at this and see how we can make it available for marine operations in the riverine areas of our country.’’
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