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Recently, major Nigerian cities, especially Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, witnessed the perennial return of fuel queues at the various filling stations after about four months of uninterrupted supply of petroleum products. The scarcity of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol had been blamed on so many factors, including the hike in fuel price by private depots’ operators and flooding.
However, oil marketers, under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) had explained that the scarcity was due to unavailability of vessels to ship the product to Nigeria. Other impeccable sources traced the scarcity of petrol to the increase in the rate of the United States dollar against the naira.
This is possibly why the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) reportedly lacked the product in many of its depots across the country. According to IPMAN’s spokesman, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, there was serious scarcity of the product in Port Harcourt, Lagos and Abuja.
Due to the scarcity of petrol, IPMAN members now buy the product at N179-180, where it is available. The Chairman of IPMAN, Western Zone, Dele Tajudeed, said there had been a hike in the ex-depot price of petrol from N148.17 per litre to N178 per litre. The development has led to independent marketers selling the product at between N195 and N200 per litre in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states.
In Kwara, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states, the product reportedly sold between N200 and N210 per litre. In the same vein, black market operators sold the product at N300-N400 per litre or more across the country. The scarcity of petrol also led to increase in transport fares in Lagos and other cities. For instance, a route that attracted N500 before rose to N800 while some rose from N300 to N400. Abuja also witnessed the increase in transport fares.
In a related development, there are fears in some quarters that the fuel crisis may persists up to the Yuletide season and even the New Year if ship owners carry out their threat to stop rendering services to NNPCL over the reported non-payment of $90million owed them in the past nine months. To avert the nationwide scarcity of the product, some industry stakeholders have urged the NNPCL to settle the bill before the ship owners withdraw their services. Also, the threatened strike by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) due to violent attacks, intimidation and extortion by hoodlums may cut fuel supply to Lagos and adjoining states. According to reports, NUPENG members, especially petroleum tanker drivers, have been harassed and intimated along Lekki Free Trade Zone, Eleko, Ibeju Lekki by community youths under the aegis of Indigenous Unity Forum. The harassment of NUPENG members by hoodlums must be properly investigated.
We lament the return of the likely perennial fuel queues due to the scarcity of petrol across the country. No matter the factors responsible for the scarcity of petrol and other petroleum products, the Federal Government must squarely address them now. The government should let Nigerians know what is happening in relation to fuel supply. The citizens are already suffering from economic hardship and other deprivations. The cost of diesel is high, alongside the prices of cooking gas and kerosene. The prices of essential food items, including rice, wheat and others have increased.
Adding the scarcity of fuel and its attendant consequences to them will be overwhelming and unnecessary. If the government is contemplating a hike in the price of petrol at this point in time, let it drop the idea forthwith. Apart from inflicting untold hardship on Nigerians, any hike in the price of fuel will weaken the economy and lead to social unrest.
While efforts should be intensified in building new refineries, the government can still make the existing ones functional. If the local refineries are made to work efficiently, our dependence on imported petroleum products will be drastically reduced or even stopped.
Due to the epileptic nature of the nation’s electricity supply, most Nigerians depend so much on fuel for their energy needs. Therefore, any increase in the price of petrol will have a deleterious effect on other sectors of the economy. That is why those in charge of the product and other stakeholders must be circumspect in effecting any hike in the pump price of the product now.
