Hauwa Ali
The scarcity of petrol and long queues have worsened in Lagos, despite assurances by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) that there is abundance of fuel and the downstream operators were on top of the situation.
As the situation is, many are heart broken that the scarcity will drag till yuletide season in December.
Earlier in November, the NMDPRA, assured Nigerians that it is taking measures to end the lingering fuel scarcity being experienced in the country, thought its Acting State Coordinator in Katsina, Engr. Abdullahi Musa-Mohammed who gave the assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
He noted that the fuel scarcity started as a result of flooding that destroyed some roads linking Southern Nigeria, from where the products are transported to other parts of the country.
Also, the Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA, Mr Farouk Ahmed, confirmed this to the News Agency in Lagos recently, by appealing to Nigerians not to engage in panic buying of petrol, saying it has enough in stock.
According to him, he had checked with the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPC) on the level of fuel stock and confirmed that they had sufficient stock.
“l spoke with the MOMAN’S Executive Secretary this morning and he told me they have sufficient stock.
“I have directed them to start evacuating the product immediately to filling stations.
“NNPC has also confirmed sufficiency and they have commenced evacuation.
“From now till tomorrow the situation will be back to normal
But what is happening now is beyond normal as the news of rationing the days of selling the product is flying about. It was gathered that the marketing companies had through their umbrella associations allegedly put the secret rationing rule that ensures that members sell petrol on the days allocated to them.
According to a source who revealed this to THISDAY, to ensure compliance to the rule, the marketers, whose turn it is not to sell on a particular date resort to hoarding the product in the day time while selling to black marketers at night and above approved price.
“Any filling station that is not selling is just obeying what they have agreed because anyone that disobeys, their leaders will deal with him. That’s why you see queues in one filling station, while another is closed.
“The person (the black marketer) that supplies me said they are the ones having fuel now because they are sure of buying from the filling stations anytime in the night when nobody is watching,” the source who pleaded to remain anonymous said.
He further said his supplier told him that the marketing companies said they were no longer coping with the government regulated price and that since they can’t fight the government, they must find a way to survive.
The situation has resulted to the hike in the pump price of petrol to about N250 to N300 per litre in some filling stations in Lagos, and has also led to the increase in transport fares by over 200 per cent in the nation’s commercial nerve centre.
For instance, the fare for commuting from Egbeda to Oshodi is now N600 as against N300 being charged before while commuting from Ikotun to CMS now takes N1500 as against N500 charged few months ago.
Consequently, many commuters are now having to pay through their noses to go to wherever they want to go even with the drop in the purchasing power of average Nigerians.
“ For us here, it’s two things that make us increase our price, the traffic and the fuel scarcity. Where we use to go for 30 mins, 4o mins or 1hr before, we spend five, six hours, also, we buy fuel now at 220, some selling for 250,” a driver on the Ibeju-Lekki axis lamented.
National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Zarma Mustapha, who spoke to journalists stated that the queues would likely continue till December, but efforts are on to address the hitches.
He said, “The on and off queues are due to issues of logistics in terms of supply of the commodity to the retail outlets from either the mother vessel to the private depot owners, and from there to independent and major marketers’ stations.
“There are a series of logistics issues as regards the supply chain. But the government and stakeholders are engaging in order to get a solution to these issues. However, we believe that this will be addressed, though it may drag beyond December.”
The current challenges of poor distribution and supply shortage of petrol no doubt, might lead to widespread queues for PMS during the festive period in December which might increase the hardship of many people because of the inflation that usually accompany petrol scarcity.
Thr Federal Government must do something to quickly address the current concerns around supply and not be allow the situation to escalate during the festivities to ease the sufferings of the people.
With the rise of dollar which had affected the petrol supply, it is only wise for the government to start being serious about refining our petroleum products here as a functional refinary is the most reasonable solution at the moment.
