Buhari Promises To Consider Fuel Supply Assistance To Burundi Amid Scarcity In Nigeria

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said Nigeria will consider a request by the Burundian government to provide energy, especially in the form of fuel to the East African country.

According to a statement titled, ‘President Buhari assures Burundi of brotherly support’, signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari made the promise when he received the Minister of Finance, Budget, and Economic Planning of Burundi, Audace Niyonzima, at the State House, Abuja.

According to Adesina, Buhari assured Niyonzima that Nigeria will support the Republic of Burundi in diverse ways as necessary, in the spirit of African solidarity and brotherliness.

Delivering his country’s message to the President, the Special Envoy of President Evariste Ndayishimiye wished the country well in general elections scheduled for February and March, this year.

“We pray that the polls would be peaceful and successful so that Nigeria would maintain her reputation as a bastion of peace and stability,” Niyonzima said.

On Burundi’s request for assistance in the area of energy provision, particularly fuel, Buhari said he knows what it feels like for a country to suffer from an energy shortage.

The Nigerian President, therefore, promised to get the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to look into the request.

The President said he was looking forward to the 2023 elections and his exit from office after spending two terms, which is constitutionally allowed in the country.

In the past few days, Nigerians have been grappling with petrol scarcity with queues at filling stations across the country.
The situation has resulted in a boom in black market sales, while there have been insinuations that oil marketers may be hoarding the product to force a hike in the price of the product.

Some marketers sell the product for between N250 and N350 per litre.