Fuel scarcity bites harder

In the past week, Nigerians have again been going through some harrowing times. Everywhere you look across the country, what you see are long queues of motorists seeking to buy fuel at filling stations. The incident has led to sharp practices by some oil marketers that fix arbitrary prices far above the official pump price approved by the Federal Government for Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) across the country. Nigerians are perturbed on what could have gone wrong, as the fuel crisis seems to be worsening by the day. Though it has not really triggered any appreciable increase in the price of food commodities and transport fare, consumers of petrol are groaning over an increase in the pump price and are begging the government to quickly act so that the situation would not escalate and go out of hand.




For the few filling stations that still sell at N87, long queue of vehicles, tricycles, motorcycles and jerry cans are common sights. Nigerians from different walks of life told Daily Sun that if the fuel scarcity and price in pump price do not subside as soon as possible, it might unleash untold hardship on the end users. In the same vein, owing to lack of regular power supply in most parts of the country, households and businesses that depend on fuel to power their generator sets are no longer able to do so at filling stations. They are now at the mercy of black market dealers. Many now buy fuel at N200 per litre. A tricycle rider, who plies Ikeja G R A, Lagos, Mr. Chima Okechukwu told Daily Sun yesterday that though he bought fuel for N87 yesterday, he wasted more than an hour on the queue before he could get the product. He lamented that the attendants gave preferential treatment to customers buying with kegs because of the extra N30 and N50 they are subjected to pay. “The filling station attendants where I bought fuel this morning preferred to sell the products to those customers that came with jerry cans because of the extra money they collect from them. Motorists, especially commercial drivers and others who were not patient enough to remain on the queue, ended up looking for jerry can to buy the fuel and transfer to their tanks,” he said. Randomly, the average cost per litre of fuel is N100 across the nation. From happenings across Nigeria, it shows that fuel price averages N100 per litre in the South West states of Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Ogun. In the South East and South-South zone particularly in Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Anambra, Imo and Abia states, petrol sells for a little above N100 and has almost steadied at an average of N110 per liter. It was reliably gathered that as yesterday, most filling stations were selling at N120 in Benin City, Edo State, a price that many motorists described as outrageous. Martins Ehiorobo, who spoke with Daily Sun reporter on the telephone, said: “Filling stations have been selling above N87 for some months now, but the situation got worse since few days ago. As at today, most of the filling stations are selling for N120. Our tolerance is being pushed to the wall. I voted for all APC candidates but this is not the change I voted for. It should not take the new government a whole year to make fuel to be regular and affordable.” In the Northern states, such as Federal Capital Territory, and in Kaduna, Gombe, Bauchi, Kano and Nassarawa States, the average cost of petrol is N105 per litre. According to Daily Sun investigation, petrol stations are not dispensing petrol fuel at the pump price, and very many of them do not have fuel available. And when they do, they sell above the regulated pump price. In Abuja for example, it is reported that while some of the filling stations within the city centre manage to comply with the approved pump price, the situation is not the same in the outskirts. For instance, in Bwari town in Bwari Area Council, a litre of PMS is said to be selling between N105 and N120, while in Jikwoyi and Karshi in the Abuja Municipal Area Council, petroleum products are relatively cheaper as some of the retail filling stations sell for about N95 per litre. In all these, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), which oversee the activities of the fuel stations, have not come out to tell Nigerians what exactly is responsible for the unhealthy development. The buyers are helplessly left at the mercies of the oil marketers, which fix their convenient prices. At a particular NNPC filling station on Ekoro road in Lagos, petrol sells at the regulated price but sale attendants were collecting between N20 and N40 from customers buying with Jerry cans unlike before at the station. There is another filling station at Abule Egba, where the attendants mandate people to buy N50 and N100 worth of engine oil before they sell fuel to them at the normal N87 per litre. A hairdresser, Mrs. Odunubi Esther at Abule Egba area of Lagos expressed dismay at the development. She said: “I don’t know what is actually wrong this time around. You can’t say there is no fuel. There is fuel, but it is expensive. Nigerians have been taken for granted for too long. I am personally worried because I was expecting that the new government under President Muhammadu Buhari would reduce the price per litre when he settles down in office. But with the way things are going, I don’t think there is any such plans. Rather, we are forced to pay higher. However, the interesting thing is that Nigerians are now more conscious of their leaders’ promises. They are more interested in asking questions now unlike in the past when politicians got away with unfulfilled political promises. “I run my business on fuel and I am not finding it funny buying the product. Some filling stations actually sell for N110 per litre in my area. Another frustrating thing is that the power supply, which appeared to have improved when the President newly assumed office, has suddenly dropped sharply. For those of us that use generating sets both at home and for business, it is a major challenge. “Now, when there is power outage, which is almost every night, I stay outside till 11pm because of the heat in the house.” Many people also complained that the sale attendants at the filling stations are engaged in sharp practices. Many, it was gathered, have been short-changing their customers by selling less fuel to the unsuspecting customers. In the same vein, the oil markers, both major and independent oil marketers, are fond of shutting down most of their dispensing pumps, thereby creating artificial scarcity and long queues at filling stations. Residents of Nassarawa State lamented last week that a litre of PMS has been selling at N110 since July this year. In the black market, the product sells for between N200 and N250. Similarly, in Lokoja the Kogi State capital, reports have it that PMS is sold at independent filling stations for an average of N110 per litre while in Suleja, the price varies from one fuel station to the other, ranging from N95 to N110 per litre. The situation is similar in Gombe, which goes for N100/N115 per litre. Nigerians are calling on the federal government to do something urgently. “We voted for President Buhari so that our lives would be better. This fuel scarcity must be tackled immediately by the government,” Chidi Okonkwo, a businessman, told the reporter.

For those people leaving in awka the queue has gotten to the kwata bridge construction site so no more space for cars to queue up. I pray our President and Honourable Minister of Petroleum to please look into the cause of this scarcity and set people free from this chronic bondage