Worried about the perennial fuel scarcity across the country, the Senate has invited Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) Mr. Andrew Yakubu, for a consultative meeting.

Alongside the minister and the NNPC, Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Mr. Reginald Stanley, has also been invited to the meeting as well as other stakeholders in the petroleum downstream sector.

They are scheduled to appear before the Senator Magnus Abe-led Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) next Tuesday.

In a signed statement yesterday, Senator Abe said the long queues of vehicles at filling stations seen in Abuja and some cities in the country are "unacceptable.

"We thought that the era of Nigerians queuing at filling stations for indeterminate hours to procure PMS and other petroleum products, was indeed gone forever. It is, indeed, an embarrassment that precious man-hours are wasted in the quest to fulfill a basic need.