The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, claimed during the sectoral briefing recently held to mark the first anniversary of the Bola Tinubu Administration, that there was no December fuel scarcity in 2023, for the first time in Nigeria.
This was as he explained that there are queues at Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) filling stations due to the low fuel cost, noting that the difference between the fuel price at NNPC’s stations and others is between 60 and 80 Naira per litre.
While commending the Tinubu-led administration, Lokpobiri said, “This is one government that has been able to ensure that there is sustainability in the supply chain, particularly for PMS. You could recall that before now, it was a perennial problem. Every year, you will see during the festive period in December, there will always be queues. But journalists, I task you, go and investigate. Last year, there were no queues in this country for the first time. That happened not by accident but it was because of deliberate efforts made by this government to ensure that there is product affordability and availability.”
Claim: There was no December fuel scarcity in 2023 for the first time in Nigeria
Verification
We found a timeline report by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) highlighting moments of fuel scarcity in Tinubu’s first year in office. According to the report, there was no scarcity of petrol in December 2023.
However, that was not the first time in the history of the country as a fact-check report published by the CDD War Room in February 2023, revealed that there was no fuel scarcity in December 2019.
Verdict: FALSE
While it was reported that Nigerians didn’t experience fuel scarcity in December 2023, our findings show that was not the first time. In December 2019, Nigeria did not also experience fuel scarcity.