Oil marketers, however, stated that they would hold a
meeting with the management of the retail subsidiary of the Nigerian National
Petroleum Company Limited today (Thursday) to know the cause of the shortage
and how to tackle it.
Hundreds of motorists
besieged the Conoil and Total filling stations that sold petrol in front of the
corporate headquarters of NNPC in Abuja on Wednesday.
This led to vehicular
traffic on the roads leading to NNPC headquarters and other surrounding
companies in the Central Business District of Abuja.
Several filling
stations in Zuba, Niger State, including NNPC, AYM Shafa, among others, were
closed on Wednesday for lack of petrol to dispense.
Similarly, the NNPC outlet on Arab Road, Kubwa, Abuja, had
no product to sell. Many other outlets along the Kubwa-Zuba expressway were
also shut. In Nyanya, Nasarawa State, many filling stations were closed.
Their inability to
operate piled pressure on the few stations that had PMS on Wednesday, leading
to massive queues by motorists at these outlets.
Oil marketers, however, stated that the reason for the
shortage in the supply of PMS to Abuja and neighbouring states was being
investigated, adding that a meeting would be held on the matter today
(Thursday).
“It is obvious that there is supply shortage in Abuja and
other states that are close to the FCT (Federal Capital Territory),” the
National Secretary, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria,
Chief John Kekeocha, told our correspondent.
He added, “This is
the reason why many filling stations in these areas are not selling PMS, which,
of course, has led to the serious queues you see in the few ones that are
dispensing the product. I cannot tell you the reason for this supply shortage
now.
“But we are meeting
with NNPC Regal tomorrow (Thursday), and this is going to form part of our
discussions. The matter is being looked into right now, and we hope to find a
solution to it during the meeting.”
Earlier, the National
President, IPMAN, Abubakar Maigandi, told our correspondent that the queues for
petrol in many states would be a thing of the past when the Dangote Petroleum
Refinery starts pumping out PMS to the domestic market.
But when asked whether the refinery had briefed marketers
about when it would start pumping out the product, Maigandi replied, “We don’t
know the time. But since he said he would start it, I know that he will do
that.
“So we are still waiting and we know that once he starts
releasing petrol to the domestic market, this issue of fuel scarcity and queues
will become a thing of the past.”
His position was corroborated by the IPMAN National Public
Relations Officer, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, who also expressed hope that the Port
Harcourt Refining Company would start producing refined petroleum products very
soon.
Commuters stranded
Thousands of commuters going to their various destinations
were stranded at different motor parks in Anambra State on Wednesday due to the
unavailability of transportation vehicles because of the shutting down of
petrol stations across the state.
Most petrol stations in the major cities of Awka, Onitsha,
Nnewi, Umunze, Ekwulobia and other environs remained shut and were not
dispensing fuel on Wednesday morning.
As a result of this,
the few vehicles plying the road increased the transportation fares by over 200
per cent while commuters who struggled to board them were made to pay the high
rates.
For instance, commercial transporters charged N500 for a
journey that used to be N200, while a journey of N500 was charged between
N1,200 to N1,500.
The development caused many commuters to start trekking to
their various destinations while others waited at the parks.
Our correspondent also observed that many offices and
business premises did not open till around 10:30 am because their employees had
yet to report for duty.
The reason why the petrol stations were closed could not be
ascertained immediately. But the development generated a lot of mixed feelings
among the public.
Some people believed that the petrol stations were on
strike, others were of the opinion that it was a deliberate attempt by the
marketers to increase the pump price of the commodity.
A tricycle operator plying the Onitsha axis, simply
identified as Tochukwu, said, “I bought fuel from the black market for as high
as N1,350/litre this morning in order to work, after we discovered that filling
stations did not open. Some of my colleagues went to Asaba in Delta State to
get the product and that is why transportation fares are high this morning.
“We don’t really know why the filling stations are shut, but
we are hearing that is like they are in a meeting somewhere in Awka. We have
experienced this kind of situation before and when they came back from their
meeting that day, they hiked the pump price of petrol. It’s likely to be the
same situation, we are watching as events unfold.”
A commuter at Awka, Chinwe Okeke, said, “I have been
standing at the Regina Caelis Bus Stop for over two hours waiting to board a
vehicle to UNIZIK, but it has been difficult. The vehicles that are coming have
been charging very exorbitantly, I don’t know what is really happening.”
When contacted on the development, the Anambra State
Commissioner for Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Anthony Ifeanya, said, “There
is no cause for alarm and commuters and motorists should not panic.
“It’s likely that the
petrol marketers are in a meeting and whenever they are having such meeting,
shutting of petrol stations is a way of compelling every member to attend the
meeting. Their meeting usually starts from morning till noon.”
It was also observed that the sudden fare hike also affected
both interstate and intrastate movements.
Lagos queues
One of our correspondents observed that the NNPC filling
station along Cele expressway in Lagos had long queues on Wednesday due to the
fact that the pump price was selling at a lower rate of N585/litre when
compared to other filling stations.
But the AP filling station located at Barracks along Chemist
Bus Stop in Lagos was not selling petrol.
However, there were no queues at Jezco filling station at
Oja-Oba, along Pako Bus Stop in Lagos because the station was selling at
N650/litre.
The Northwest filling station along the Gbagada expressway
had long queues as the pump price at this station was N610/litre.
Heavy queues were seen at the NNPC filling station along the
Ogudu expressway with the station selling at N585/litre.
N710/litre in Ogun
Residents of Abeokuta, Ogun State capital now buy a litre of
petrol for between N650 and N710/litre.
One of our correspondents observed that while many of the
filling stations were not selling fuel on Wednesday, the few independent
filling stations that were attending to customers sold the product at between
N660 to N710/litre.
However, the NNPC mega station along Abiola Way dispensed a
litre for N580 but the queues here were very long.
Eternal Oil along Kobape road with a fairly large crowd sold
petrol for N660/litre while others such as KH filling station, Adigbe, among
others, sold theirs at N700/litre and above.
Scarcity hits Gombe
Fuel scarcity has hit most filling stations in the Gombe
State metropolis.
Some motorists told our correspondent in the state that they
suspected sabotage, as fuel was sold for between N760 to N800/litre depending
on the station. The worst hit areas are the hinterlands.
Bako Hussain, a motorist, said, “We know that it is a sort
of plan work by the filling stations. How can one open today and tomorrow the
next one will open and the one that sold yesterday will not open.”
Also speaking, Hajara Bala, said “It is hard to get fuel in
the state as the queues are building across filling stations. I think it’s
artificial scarcity. I see no reason why we will have money and still wait with
your N760 or more depending on the station.”
Motorists in Sokoto State also decried the continued rise in
the price of petrol as the product rose to N830/litre on Wednesday.
Findings by our correspondent in Sokoto on Wednesday evening
showed that most of the filling stations that opened for business in the
morning had closed their outlets before 4 pm, making the product more scarce
for consumers.
Almost all the big marketers including NNPC, AA Rano, Shafa,
among others, were not dispensing the product on Wednesday evening.
The few filling stations that dispensed the product on
Wednesday evening sold it at between N800 and N830/litre and still had long
queues.
A motorist, Abdul Ahmad, who spoke to our correspondent,
said, “How do you explain a filling station which sells fuel at the rate of
N770/litre in the morning, only for you to come back in the afternoon and same
people now sell at N820/litre.
“This is very bad and we should stop doing this to ourselves
in this country.”
NNPC stays mute
Meanwhile, efforts to get the NNPC to explain reasons for
the queues and the fuel supply shortage in states were unsuccessful.
NNPC is currently the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria,
as other marketers stopped importing the commodity due to their inability to
access adequate foreign exchange required for PMS importation.
NNPC’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, did not answer calls to
his phone when contacted on the matter.
