Kachikwu Appears Before Senate Committee, Apologises To Nigerians

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The Minister of State Petroleum, Mr Ibe Kachikwu has apologised for remarks he made at the State House where he was quoted as saying he is not a magician.

Speaking at a meeting with the Senate Committee On Petroleum Downstream, Mr Kachikwu apologized for the comment which he said some found offensive.

“I do apologise if the comments that I made jocularly with my friends in the press about being a magician offended some Nigerians. It wasn’t meant to be.

“It was a side jocular issue and I did go on to explain what needed to be done. I didn’t think it would create the kind of hyperbole that it did.

“Let me first admit that I am not your typically experienced politician; I am a technocrat, I come to work. So some of the phraseologies that I might use, while being acceptable in the arena in which I play, obviously will not be acceptable in the public political arena.

“So if anybody’s sensitivities are offended by those, I totally apologise. I’m a very humble person, I’m not the one to even imagine the thoughts that I dictate to Nigerians,” he said

He also said is response to calls and protests in some quarters for his resignation, that he is not going to resign as he has work to do.

“I am going to deliver on the job the President gave me until he deems it fit for me to go. So lets not waste our time, its going to cost us more fuel to drive vehicles to Abuja to do that (protest).”

Speaking on the persistent fuel scarcity, Mr Kachikwu said fuel queues would disappear in the first week of April.

The Minister explained that the persistent queues in petrol stations is as a result of three major problems.

These are the inability of petroleum marketers to import fuel, the NNPC being burdened with importing 100% of fuel for local consumption and acts of vandalism.

The Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream ordered the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, to appear before it to explain the unending fuel scarcity across the country.

The committee invited the Minister after carrying out an on-the-spot assessment of the fuel crises in major petrol stations in the nation’s capital city.

The management of some of the stations visited gave reasons behind the scarcity which the chairman of the Senate committee said were unacceptable.

They explained the need to have a clearer understanding of the situation and how it is being addressed.