News
NNPC, PPMC plan to adopt 24-hour operations to end fuel scarcity
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC they will work round the clock, 24 hours service, and adopt other measures to eliminate the current fuel scarcity in the country and also ensure steady supply of the commodity for the remaining period of the year. This is coming on the heels of return of normalcy to the Federal Capital Territory, as the large queues which were recorded at the beginning of the week thinned out, as most petrol stations are dispensing the products to motorists.
Speaking during the monitoring of petrol stations in Abuja, Managing Director of the PPMC, Mr. Umar Ajiya, stated that the NNPC and the PPMC had increased the daily trucking out of fuel to petrol stations across the country to over 1,300 trucks and was taking delivery of a minimum of one vessel load of fuel on a daily basis. According to him, each of the vessels contains over 50 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, which is far above Nigeria’s daily fuel demand of 35 million litres.
He said, “We have a robust supply plan; every blessed day, we have a minimum of one ship arriving Nigeria. Today (Wednesday), we received two ships, tomorrow we will receive a ship; day after tomorrow, we have two ships coming. That is the trajectory going forward, until the end of the year. One ship is an average of 50 million litres and the average consumption in Nigeria is about 35 million litres. In addition to that, we have massively increased our truck out. We cover 1,300 trucks a day. As you can see them arriving in several stations that we visited.”
Ajiya attributed the improvement in the fuel supply situation to hard work and the collaborative efforts among and the NNPC, PPMC, and their sister agencies, such as the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, oil majors, as well as the security agencies.
“By rising up to the challenge, we have moved our operations to 24 hours in all our depots, we have moved our products ourselves to all our affiliate stations on a 24 hours basis,” he explained.
In collaboration with the DPR, PPPRA and security agencies, Ajiya noted that surveillance and monitoring had been beefed up across the country and a directive had been issued that any depot or filling station found selling above the pump price and also hoarding products, would see their products dispensed to motorists free of charge.
Continuing, he said, “The genesis of the whole problem is the rumour of the planned increase of petrol price by the NNPC. We have since debunked that, there is no iota of truth in that, therefore, Nigerians should calm down; they do not need to rush to buy products and hoard, especially as it is unsafe to keep such products in their houses.”
Also speaking, Chief Operating Officer, NNPC Ventures, Mr. Babatunde Adeniran, disclosed that the corporation had put in place a robust plan to ensure steady supply for the rest of 2017 and beyond. He said, “Our hands are still on deck and we are looking at everything as it comes every day, so that the situation like this, where there is steady fuel supply, can continue in Lagos, Abuja and all over the country.”
In addition, Executive Director, Shared Services of the PPMC, Mr. Muhammed Mustapha, said the NNPC subsidiary would ensure continuous supply of the commodity to petrol stations across the country, while the General Manager, Group Security Department of the NNPC, Mr. Sam Otoboeze, also assured marketers that the NNPC would assist any petrol station in tackling any security challenge they might encounter in their quest to operate on a longer period or on a 24-hour basis.
In most of the petrol stations visited, the queues had disappeared, while motorists were seen purchasing the products with ease. Particularly, Station Manager, Oando Petrol Station, Mabushi, Abuja, Mr. Emmanuel Ebhoh, said fuel supply had improved and that the queues had thinned out, while he added that the station started sales today, with 40,000 litres and had sold about 20,000 litres as at 3pm when the NNPC and PPPRA team visited. At the Total petrol station at Wuse Zone 3, Abuja a truck was discharging 40,000 litres of fuel into the tanks, while the station manager, Mr. Patrick Okogo, said another truck was on standby to discharge.
He said once the trucks finished discharging, sales to motorists would commence, adding that the queues had reduced significantly from what was the situation three days ago. Also, at the AYM Shafa filling station at Apo, the Station Manager, Mr. Abdullah Sanni, said there is over 300,000 litres of fuel in its tanks, which is enough to meet the demands of its customers for three days. He said the station also has some trucks on standby waiting to discharge the product, adding that it is expecting additional supply tomorrow. Sanni noted that the queues witnessed in its station since Monday, had disappeared, as supply had improved.
A new technology transfer agreement between the Nigeria–China Strategic Partnership (NCSP) and the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer (PICTT) is expected to open more job opportunities, improve local skills, and expand access to advanced technology for ordinary Nigerians.
In a press statement reaching Vanguard on Friday, the MoU aims to strengthen industrial development, support local content, and create clearer pathways for Nigerians to benefit from China’s growing investments in the country.
PICTT Chairman, Dr Dahiru Mohammed, said the partnership will immediately begin coordinated programmes that support local participation in infrastructure and industrial projects.
Special Adviser to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr John Uwajumogu, said the deal will help attract high value investments that can stimulate job creation and strengthen Nigeria’s economy.
NCSP Head of International Relations, Ms Judy Melifonwu, highlighted that Nigerians stand to gain from expanded STEM scholarships, technical training, access to modern technology, and collaboration across key sectors including steel, agriculture, automobile parks, and cultural industries.
The NCSP Director-General reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to measurable results, noting that the partnership with PICTT will prioritise initiatives that deliver direct national impact.
The MoU signals a new phase of Nigeria–China cooperation focused on practical delivery, local content, and opportunities that improve everyday livelihoods.
EU regulators launched an antitrust investigation into Meta Platforms on Thursday over its rollout of artificial intelligence features in its WhatsApp messenger that would block rivals, hardening Europe’s already tough stance on Big Tech. The move, reported earlier by Reuters and the Financial Times, is the latest action by European Union regulators against large technology firms such as Amazon and Alphabet’s Google as the bloc seeks to balance support for the sector with efforts to curb its expanding influence.
Europe’s tough stance – a marked contrast to more lenient U.S. regulation – has sparked an industry pushback, particularly by U.S. tech titans, and led to criticism from the administration of U. S. President Donald Trump. The European Commission said that the investigation will look into Meta’s new policy that would limit other AI providers’ access to WhatsApp, a potential boost for its own Meta AI system integrated into the platform earlier this year.
EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the move was to prevent dominant firms from “abusing their power to crowd out innovative competitors”. She added interim measures could be imposed to block Meta’s new WhatsApp AI policy rollout. “AI markets are booming in Europe and beyond,” she said. This is why we are investigating if Meta’s new policy might be illegal under competition rules, and whether we should act quickly to prevent any possible irreparable harm to competition in the AI space.”
A WhatsApp spokesperson called the claims “baseless”, adding that the emergence of chatbots on its platforms had put a “strain on our systems that they were not designed to support”, a reference to AI systems from other providers. “Still, the AI space is highly competitive and people have access to the services of their choice in any number of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems.” The EU was the first in the world to establish a comprehensive legal framework for AI, setting out guardrails for AI systems and rules for certain high-risk applications in the AI Act.
Meta AI, a chatbot and virtual assistant, has been built into WhatsApp’s interface across European markets since March. The Commission said a new policy fully applicable from January 15, 2026, may block competing AI providers from reaching customers via the platform. Ribera said the probe came on the back of complaints from small AI developers about the WhatsApp policy. The Interaction Company of California, which has developed AI assistant Poke.com, has taken its grievance to the EU competition enforcer. Spanish AI startup Luzia has also talked to the Commission, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Marvin von Hagen, co-founder and CEO of The Interaction Company of California, said if Meta was allowed to roll out its new policy, “millions of European consumers will be deprived of the possibility of enjoying new and innovative AI assistants”. Meta also risks a fine of as much as 10% of its global annual turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules.
Italy’s antitrust watchdog opened a parallel investigation in July into allegations that Meta leveraged its market power by integrating an AI tool into WhatsApp, expanding the probe in November to examine whether Meta further abused its dominance by blocking rival AI chatbots from the messaging platform. The antitrust probe is a more traditional means of investigation than the EU’s Digital Markets Act, the bloc’s landmark legislation currently used to scrutinize Amazon’s and Microsoft’s cloud services for potential curbs. Reuters
The spouses and children of billionaires inherited more wealth in 2025 than in any previous year since reporting began in 2015, according to UBS’s Billionaire Ambitions Report published on Thursday. In the 12 months to April, 91 people became billionaires through inheritance, collectively receiving $298 billion, up more than a third from 2024, the Swiss bank said. “These heirs are proof of a multi-year wealth transfer that’s intensifying,” UBS executive Benjamin Cavalli said.
The report is based on a survey of some of UBS’s super-rich clients and a database that tracks the wealth of billionaires across 47 markets in all world regions. At least $5.9 trillion will be inherited by billionaire children over the next 15 years, the bank calculates.
Most of this inheritance growth is set to take place in the United States, with India, France, Germany and Switzerland next on the list, UBS estimated. However, billionaires are highly mobile, especially younger ones, which could change that picture, it added. The search for a better quality of life, geopolitical concerns and tax considerations are driving decisions to relocate, according to the report.
In Switzerland, where $206 billion will be inherited over the next 15 years according to the bank, voters on Sunday overwhelmingly rejected 50 per cent tax on inherited fortunes of $62 million or more, after critics said it could trigger an exodus of wealthy people.
Switzerland, the UAE, the U.S. and Singapore are among billionaires’ preferred destinations, UBS’s Cavalli said. “In Switzerland, Sunday’s vote may have helped to increase the country’s appeal again,” he said. Reuters
-
News3 days agoNigeria to officially tag Kidnapping as Act of Terrorism as bill passes 2nd reading in Senate
-
News4 days agoFG’s plan to tax digital currencies may push traders to into underground financing—stakeholders
-
News4 days agoNigeria champions African-Arab trade to boost agribusiness, industrial growth
-
News1 week agoFG launches fresh offensive against Trans-border crimes, irregular migration, ECOWAS biometric identity Card
-
Finance1 week agoAfreximbank successfully closed its second Samurai Bond transactions, raising JPY 81.8bn or $527m
-
Economy4 days agoMAN cries out some operators at FTZs abusing system to detriment of local manufacturers
-
News4 days agoEU to support Nigeria’s war against insecurity
-
Uncategorized4 days agoDeveloping Countries’ Debt Outflows Hit 50-Year High During 2022-2024—WBG