The Chief Executive Officer, NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Tuesday.

Ahmed said he had checked with the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria and Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd. on the level of fuel stock and confirmed that they had sufficient stock.

“I spoke with the MOMAN’S Executive Secretary this morning and he told me they have sufficient stock.I have directed them to start evacuating the product immediately to filling stations. NNPC has also confirmed sufficiency and they have commenced evacuation.From now till tomorrow the situation will be back to normal. don’t know what is happening but we are on top of the situation,” he said.

Ahmed assured that there was enough fuel and, therefore, appealed to members of the public to avoid panic-buying as all efforts were being made to resolve shortage in some filling stations in Lagos and its environs.

The National Operations Controller of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mike Osatuyi, attributed the scarcity to unsteady supply in the past few days.

Osatuyi told NAN that as a result of the unsteady supply, depots prices had risen from N165 to N177 and N178 per litre in Apapa and its environs.

“The marketers will only sell what they buy. If the price of petrol increases, we add our transportation cost and other charges to the selling price,” he said.

He appealed to the NNPC and the NMDPRA to supply enough petrol across the country to ease scarcity.

Queues are beginning to build in some filling stations in within Lagos.

The Authority Chief Executive of NMDPRA, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, made this known when he received a delegation from the Ivorian organisation, BNEDTD, in Abuja.

The delegation was led by the Ambassador, Director of Economic Intelligence and Monitoring Evaluation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cote d’Ivoire, Mr. Koue Alphonse.

Ahmed, in a statement on Friday, said that the strategic goals of the authority were to attract investment, expand oil and gas infrastructure and make Nigeria a regional hub while impacting the global market.

He encouraged Cote’d Ivoire to take advantage of investment opportunities in the Nigerian energy industry made available through the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act to promote economic growth and sustainable development.

Some of these investment opportunities include the supply of natural gas, propane, and butane to Cote`d Ivoire and other West African countries,” he said.

Ahmed assured the team that the NMDPRA would support and encourage investment in infrastructure, gas refining, and transportation.

Earlier, Alphonse said the purpose of the visit was to understudy the operational system in the midstream and downstream sectors with a view to expanding and enhancing areas of cooperation between both countries.

The engagement gave an insight into the workings of the regulatory institutions in the Nigerian energy sector and explored ways to widen and enhance areas of further cooperation between both countries.