The Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr Ibe Kachikwu, said on Tuesday in Abuja that he would not resign as he still has a lot of work to do.

The minister said this as part of his closing remarks while briefing the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) on the lingering scarcity of petroleum products across the country.

Different groups including the South South APC, NANS and some Civil Society Organisations have called for the minister’s resignation.

Kachikwu said: “All those planning to come to Abuja for a protest should save their fuel, I am not going to resign, I have a lot of work to do.’’

According to him, he did not accept to be minister of petroleum in order to create scarcity.

The minister assured that he would work hard to find lasting solutions to the problems in the industry.

Kachikwu said that he was pained as much as many Nigerians were that the country still suffered petroleum scarcity in spite of being one of the largest producers of crude oil in the world.