Despite assurances by various government
agencies and officials that the current fuel crisis will abate, the
situation across the country portends a bleak Christmas, as the scarcity
bites harder and thousands are forced to sleep in filling stations to
purchase the product.
When the scarcity began, both the Minister of State for Petroleum
Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, said normalcy was
going to be restored in a matter of days.
When the crisis worsened, following the threat by the Independent
Petroleum Products Marketers of Nigeria, IPMAN, to embark on a
nationwide strike, Mr. Kachikwu, following the marching orders by the
Executive Council of the Federation, FEC, said the problem was going to
end in a few days.
Subsequent assurances from the NNPC was that enough had been done, by
increasing the number of trucks of petroleum products to major cities
to take care of the scarcity.
But, days after those assurances, the situation in Lagos, Abuja and
most other major cities across the country remain far from normal, as
fuel remains in short supply, with attendant high prices.
The resultant impact has been rising transportation fares by almost 100 percent, as Nigerians prepare for Christmas.
SOUTH-WEST
In Abule-egba, Lagos, many stations were closed, while the few that were opened sold petrol at between N200 and N250 per litre.
Along the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway, most filling stations in places like Sango-Ijoko remain shut.
In other parts of Ogun State, the majority of the petrol stations were shut and not dispensing products.
The few stations that sold petrol, including the Nigeria National
Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, depot were flooded by motorists with
queues extending up to three kilometres.
Only a few cars were seen on the roads in Abeokuta, the state
capital, while passengers were seen trekking to offices and back home.
The queues in Lagos filling stations have continued to grow, with
most motorists abandoning their vehicles at home and commuting with
public transport for lack of fuel.
Lagos residents lamented the impact of the fuel crisis on their lives, especially the rising cost of transportation.
A resident, Chinwe Isaac, who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES, explained how
she waited for almost two hours at Obalende bus terminus before getting
a bus to Ajah.
“On a normal day, Obalende to Ajah is just N250. But, the fare has
now doubled N500. When you question the drivers, the response is that a
litre of fuel is sold for N200.”
A corps member, who simply identified herself as Mariam said the scarcity was taking its toll on her.
“Marketers are making a kill from the crisis. Commuters are charged
N1,000 from Ojota to Mile 2. I hope the federal government does
something urgent about this, especially in this festive period,” Mariam
said.
In Ekiti, Ondo and Osun, petrol was sold between N190 and N250 per litre in the filling stations that had the product.
It was gathered that some independent marketers sold as high as N250
in some parts of Ekiti between Thursday and Friday as the situation got
worse.
“Some major marketers are selling at the normal rate of N145, but you
cannot stand the queue,” a resident of Ado-Ekiti, Kamarudeen, told
PREMIUM TIMES.
The situation is worse in Ondo State where “black market” became rampant in Oda and other outskirts of Akure.
Some black marketers sold for as high as N300 per litre in plastic containers.
At the few fuel stations where the product was sold, the queue and
crowd became so unbearable that the fuel attendants resorted to issuing
numbers to customers.
A PREMIUM TIMES reporter was number 223 on the queue in one of the fuel stations selling a litre for N190.
In Osogbo, the Osun State capital, fuel stations selling at N200 per
litre had shorter queues than those selling above the amount.
SOUTH-EAST
In the South-east, fuel prices have risen steadily throughout the
week, leading to the increase in both intra and intercity transportation
fares.
For instance, the fares from Enugu to Nsukka, which usually cost N500, now cost between N700 to N800.
Fuel price in Enugu initially increased to N190, before going up to
an average of between N200 and N230. On Friday, a litre of the product
was sold for between N250 to N260 per litre in most filling stations in
the state.
The situation is similar in Anambra State, where a resident, Geofrey
Ndubuisi, told our correspondent, fuel was being sold at around N210 and
N250 in Onitsha, the commercial capital of the state.
Mr. Ndubuisi also said that in Awka, fuel was sold at over N250 per litre, where it was available.
“There is a scarcity of the product and there are long queues in the
few filling stations in the state with the product,” he added.
However, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) compelled some
marketers to sell the product at the government regulated price of N145
per litre.
The team, which came from Enugu Office, also sealed 12 filling
stations, including an NNPC mega station for hoarding the product.
Some marketers, however, resisted the DPR team.
The situation is not different in Owerri, Imo State capital as well
as Aba, the commercial centre of Abia State, where residents said fuel
pump price increased to N250 and above per litre.
The impact is the same on transport fares by commercial transport operators.
In Ebonyi State, the retail pump price has risen to an average of
N200 and N250 in many filling stations, while the price is as high as
N270 and N300 per litre in the black markets.
Many filling stations did not open for business, while long queues
built outside most other stations visited by our correspondent on
Friday.
Prior to the latest scarcity and hike in fuel prices, tricycle
operators were charging N30 per passenger for short distances. But, the
fare has now been raised to N50, with long distance trips now attracting
between N80 and N120 fare per passenger.
SOUTH-SOUTH
On Friday, many filling stations in Asaba, the Delta State capital still sold petrol at N145 per litre.
In Edo, the state government waded in to ensure marketers sell the product at N145 per litre.
A government team working with the DPR to monitor petrol stations in
the state vowed to prosecute marketers found to be involved in the
diversion of products.
The Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie, said the
monitoring exercise is to ensure that products allocated to the state
were dispensed to buyers at the official pump prices, to save the people
the hardship being experienced by consumers in other states.
“Marketers are hereby warned to ensure judicious dispensing of
allocated products, as the government will not hesitate to apprehend and
prosecute any erring marketer,” a government statement said.
However, in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, the fuel supply crisis
worsened as almost all filling stations around the state capital and
environs sold petrol at about N200 per litre.
Most filling stations belonging to major petroleum marketers were not selling fuel in the city as of Friday.
NORTHERN STATES TOO
In Kaduna, most petrol stations visited were not selling the product.
That allowed a free reign to black marketers who sold for between N280
and N350 per litre.
Israel Bulus, a taxi driver who spoke to our reporter, said this is
the worst scarcity he has experienced in Kaduna in the last five years.
“You cannot get fuel even at the black market prices. I can tell you
with authority that not more than 10 filling stations are selling fuel
in the state capital,” he said.
Umar Korau, a resident of Bauchi, told PREMIUM TIMES that the situation is unbearable as most filling stations were closed.
“In Bauchi, there is no fuel at all. The few vehicles you see on the
streets are those that got fuel from the few black market sellers at
exorbitant prices.
He said a litre is sold for between N300 and N400 at the black market.
In Gusau, Zamfara State, authorities struggled to contain the
activities of black market operators who sold petrol to residents at
over N200 per litre. The few filling stations that sold the product had
very long queues.
Ango Haruna, the Controller in charge of Gusau DPR field office, led
the DPR surveillance team of the department to inspect some filling
stations in the state.
He said some residents, including commercial motorcycles riders,
connived with the black marketers to buy the commodity from filling
stations and resell to desperate buyers.
“We observe that some members of the public involved in a panic are
buying of the commodity. We noticed that filling stations owners were
also conniving with such people, which is against the rule and
regulations of the DPR.
“That is why many filling stations in Gusau metropolis today were
filled up with the jerry cans which led to long queue in most of the
filling stations in the state capital,” he said
Mr. Haruna said even though most of the filling stations in the state
had now complied with the order by selling the product at a
government-approved price of N145 Naira per litre ‘but the major problem
we are facing is hawking and panic buying’.
“Since the government had supplied enough commodity to the marketers
we will not relent in our efforts to enforce compliance,” he explained.
APC, PDP REACT
Nigeria’s ruling APC on Friday reacted to the petrol scarcity, saying there was no basis for it.
“There’s no ‘actual scarcity'”, the APC said in a statement on Twitter Friday afternoon.
The party blamed marketers and panic buying amidst Yuletide holidays for the lingering scarcity.
In its reaction, the opposition PDP blamed President Muhammadu Buhari who is also the Minister of Petroleum for the scarcity.
“The unbearable fuel situation in the country is completely
unacceptable. Mr. President must become up and doing. He should not
allow anybody to push him to claim that the issue of fuel scarcity is
not under the purview of the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
“When he took office as President of Nigeria and also as the Minister
of Petroleum Resources, he was aware that the buck stops at his table,”
the party said in a statement by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbodiyan.
In his reaction, Governor Ayodele Fayose asked President Buhari to
resign. He said the scarcity was a deliberate ploy by the Buhari
administration to hike fuel prices to as much as N200.
Mr. Fayose said since the scarcity is largely inexplicable, it’s only
logical to conclude that federal authorities are behind it.
