Nigerians groan as more queues, scarcity take over petrol stations

Petroleum Minister, Diezani

Long queues of desperate motorists searching for petrol returned to some parts of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states on Tuesday as the nation appears to have returned to the era of scarcity of the product.

Though, SHOWBIZPLUS gathered that the situation was generally dismissed as panic buying in some quarters, checks by our correspondents showed that queues had returned to many filling stations in Lagos as motorists were seen making frantic attempts to buy fuel in anticipation of the situation getting worse from Wednesday (today).

Specifically, queues were seen at the Total filing stations located at Acme and Oregun areas of the state; the Mobil filling station at Ogba; and Oando stations along the Oworonshoki–Tollgate end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The Forte oil filling station located in Oregun and other many other stations around the area shut their gates against customers.

Similarly, motorists were seen queuing for long hours to purchase petrol at the few filling stations that were selling the product in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

One of our correspondents, who toured the city and its environs on Tuesday, observed that many filling stations were shut, while the few that had the product sold it for between N100 and N110 per litre instead of the official N97.

One of the busiest roads in Ibadan is the Abeokuta Road, which has a large concentration of filling stations because of its nearness to the depot. Our correspondent observed that only two filling stations that had the product to sell on Tuesday morning had long queues of motorists.

The situation was the same in Dugbe, Mokola, Secretariat Road, Ring Road and Challenge areas of the city. Many motorists that rushed to the Oyo-Ibadan Expressway, which is also littered with filling stations, were disappointed as they could not get the product to buy.

The situation also forced transport fares to increase slightly in most parts of Ibadan.

In Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, long queues of motorists surfaced on Friday but the situation worsened on Tuesday as many of the filling stations shut their gates against the customers.

A similar situation was observed in Ado Ekiti and other towns and villages in Ekiti State by one of our correspondents, who monitored the situation on Tuesday.

Queues resurfaced in some parts of Lagos last week over fears of an impending petrol scarcity, but the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association had described the situation as panic buying, while insisting that there was no scarcity of petroleum products in the country.

However, the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria said the delay by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency to release the first quarter import allocations was already putting pressure on the available fuel in stock and that depots owned by the major marketers were already drying up.

The Executive Secretary, MOMAN, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, had said last week, “There will be fuel scarcity in the country if the major marketers’ supply is not replenished because we account for 60 per cent of the national product demand across the country.”

The Chairman, South-West chapter, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Mr. Tokunbo Korodo, also said, “Yes, there is a shortfall in the distribution of fuel as the System 2B of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation/Petroleum Product Marketing Company is down as a result of oil spillage in Lagos, which made pumping to other outlets impossible, while some private tank farms with little fuel are rationing the product.”

When asked to explain the cause of the fuel scarcity again on Tuesday, Korodo said, “Most of our depots have run out of petrol and  kerosene stocks, while the few ones that have the products are experiencing congestion, and this has reduced their lifting.”

The Chairman, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, Mr. Dapo Abiodun, said, “The first quarter allocations for the importation of Premium Motor Spirit have not been awarded by the PPPRA. So, no marketer can import. What you see is the left over from the fourth quarter of 2013 and PPMC supplies.

“This is why there are queues building up. There is a shortage of supply in the system and it will worsen unless the PPPRA brings out the first quarter allocations now. More so, there is a lead time from importation to the arrival of cargoes. So, if allocations are awarded, it will take about 10 days to resolve the shortage if supply is allowed to dry up completely.”

Similarly, the Chairman, Ibadan branch, IPMAN, Mr. Joseph Oyewole, said the current scarcity was due to the activities of vandals in the Ijegun area of Lagos, while urging consumers not to stock the product at home.

He said, “Consumers should not embark on panic buying of petrol because the pipeline that was vandalised at Ijegun has been replaced and the NNPC has promised to commence loading immediately.

“Some of the marketers that are selling petrol at N100 per litre and above should not be blamed because they purchased the product from independent depots in Lagos at N95.50 and they cannot sell at N97 per litre to consumers. But the situation will change before the end of this week.”

The Chairman, IPMAN, Mosimi Depot, Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State, Alhaji Dele Tajudeen, told one of our correspondents that the scarcity of petrol in the state had worsened since last week.

Tajudeen regretted that the current scarcity had also resulted in a huge loss of revenue by the NNPC and economic loss to the country.

He urged the people residing around petroleum pipelines to be more vigilant and report any suspicious action around their areas to the appropriate authorities.

He said the NNPC had begun to put in place measures to cushion the effects of the scarcity, promising that the situation would improve in the next four days.

Tajudeen said, “This particular scenario we are witnessing now is as a result of pipelines being vandalised. The masses should not blame the NNPC; they should appeal to people to stop going to the pipelines.

“If you see the enormous loss that the NNPC has suffered, if it were a private business, it would have folded up. So, we are appealing to the masses to be a watchdog on the pipeline and give us information when they see people around vandalising the pipelines.”

The former Secretary, IPMAN, Ore Depot, Mr. Dele Fadumiye, who spoke in Itapa Ekiti, Oye Local Government area of Ekiti State during the sale of kerosene at N50 per litre under the Kero-Direct Scheme jointly initiated by the NNPC and IPMAN, said the hardship being experienced by marketers and consumers as a result of the illegalities in the sector was embarrassing.

He said, “What we gathered was that vandalism of the Mosimi pipeline has been obstructing the supply of petrol.

“The Federal Government must find a lasting solution to this. Motorists as well as other Nigerians whose lives depend on the business have been facing serious hardship.”

-THE PUNCH