Nigerians were thrown into great confusion over the weekend as fuel deficiency erupted in Lagos, Abuja, and major cities across the country.
Masses crowded fuel stations in Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, Lagos, in the lead of another season of fuel scarcity.
The situation was not different in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, as motorists were seen struggling to fill their tanks, amid long queues formed across the city centres.
A number of petrol stations in Ojodu and Ikeja areas of Lagos city were under lock and key. At Ojodu-Berger area, the NNPC retail outlet was shut against motorists on Sunday afternoon.
However, motorists besieged the few other petrol stations that were open for business around the area.
At Omole Estate Gate, a privately owned petrol station sold fuel for ₦162, but there was a long queue at the entrance of the petrol station.
A random survey of petrol stations within the Ojodu-Ikeja axis showed that the prices ranged between ₦162 and ₦165 Sunday afternoon.
Most motorists complains that the price is not high but the fuel stations refuse to sell.
In Abuja, there were queues at major fuel stations. On Sunday, a long queue of both motorists and motorcyclists was observed at the NNPC filling station along Airport Road, Lugbe, Abuja. While a litre of petrol was sold at ₦162, the fuel station attendants refused to sell to individuals with gallons.
“This is what we have been facing since last week. That’s why most of the stands that are supposed to be dispensing are not able to do so. There’s no fuel,” an aggrieved customer lamented.
In other parts of the city, motorists were seen navigating their ways in the middle of queues in order to access the dispensing points for fuel.
But the new development comes against the background of an earlier move by petrol marketers to disrupt loading of petroleum products at private depots in Lagos and other parts of the country, in protest against a new payment method.
Earlier in the month, some marketers had disrupted Apapa, Ibadan, Ejigbo and Mosimi depots belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
Speaking to newsmen about the development at the time, Shina Amoo, the Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Ore Depot, explained that with the new arrangement, major marketers and very few independent marketers with huge funds could pay for 200 trucks and load them while those who had paid for one or two trucks would be on queue for many months unattended to.
Mr Amoo said the new payment method was introduced by the PPMC, and had prevented independent marketers from loading petroleum products from depots.
There are also concerns that the scarcity may not be unconnected to the expected rise in the ex-depot price of petrol, due to the increase recorded in the price of crude oil in the international market in recent weeks.
The ex-depot price is the price at which depot owners buy the product from the NNPC which is virtually the sole importer of petrol into the country. It is fixed by the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the NNPC.
Meanwhile, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) on Sunday advised Nigerians to stop panic buying and stocking of petrol.
Suleiman Yakubu, the National Public Relations Officer of IPMAN, decried the panic purchases and long queues witnessed in various filling stations across the nation’s federal capital on Sunday.
Mr Yakubu however said that normal supply of petrol would soon be restored since loading had commenced at various depots.
“We want to assure the buyers that government and marketers are doing everything possible to ensure that the products are available in every filling station within a few days starting from today,” the IPMAN spokesman said on Sunday.
Ifesinachi Nnabugwu reporting, Obinwannem News
