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ν We’re back to sleeping at fuel stations, motorists lament
From Uche Usim, Abuja
Despite repeated assurances from the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu that worrisome scarcity of petrol being experienced in most parts of the country will ease by this weekend, the contrary has played out as long queues still persist in many filling stations, especially in Abuja.
The development has also emboldened fuel hawkers to hike fuel price as they are joyfully profiting from the scarcity nightmare by selling 10 litres of petrol in compressed jerry cans for N2,500 on the average.
Of about 15 filling stations sampled between Kubwa and Wuse in Abuja on Friday morning, eight were totally shut, while two were seen selling diesel as they claimed to have run out of petrol. The remaining stations that sold petrol had vehicular queues stretching as long as 300 meters.
NIPCO and NNPC mega stations along Kubwa-AYA road had sufficient stock but with scary queues and heavy presence of armed security operatives to avoid riotous sales. In other parts of the Abuja metropolis monitored, the queues had begun disrupting free flow of traffic as motorists hunting for petrol have snatched a lane on some dual carriageways.
However, the common denominator in all the filling stations visited was that none of them sold petrol above the N145/litre threshold, even though it could not be immediately confirmed if the station managers have dubiously adjusted their metres to rip off hapless motorists.
Checks by Saturday Sun reveal that the Abuja scarcity situation may have been worsened by the sudden increase in number of vehicles due to the National Convention of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) holding in the city.
The long-awaited convention has attracted delegates, politicians and party members who stormed the city in hundreds of buses, cars and SUVs and will naturally need to refuel them before departing to their various destinations in the country after the event.
The development has naturally put more pressure on the already insufficient petrol supplied to the city by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), who according to Kachikwu, is the sole importer of petrol at the moment, as private dealers have momentarily halted imports.
Meanwhile, some motorists who spoke with Saturday Sun said the worsening scarcity, if not quickly addressed, will return consumers to the era of sleeping in filling stations to get petrol.
According to Elijah Agbi, an inter-state mini-bus transporter, “all Kachikwu and other government agencies have promised us that the scarcity will end this weekend. Is today not Saturday? Has it ended?
“I woke up 5am and came to queue here at NIPCo. Of course they were not open at that time but guess what, I met some vehicles here. Some may have even slept here. So, is it not safe to say we are back to the era of sleeping in filling stations?
“Whether it is hoarding, artificial scarcity, panic buying or whatever, we need petrol to operate our vehicles and generators for business. Let’s not be wasting man hours in hellish queues. It’s killing”, he lamented.
A taxi driver, Taju Alade also lamented: “this fuel issue has killed Nigerians completely. No salaries, no money, no business and now fuel. It is like living in hell. I woke up 4:30am and began hunting for petrol. Many stations are locked up. The ones selling having long queues. I had to queue up for up to four hours. Is this government’s Christmas gift for the masses”, he groaned.
Meanwhile, Ladan Mordecai, a Director at the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) yesterday warned fuel stations and depot owners to stop hoarding petroleum products as anyone caught faces a fine of N10 million.
“DPR will escalate penalties to about N10 million for depot owners. We don’t want them hoarding products and subjecting Nigerians to unnecessary hardship. Recall that the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu said plans were afoot to engage the various unions, especially the Petroleum and Natural Gas workers Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) in resolving the scarcity quagmire and also “avoid their threats”.
He said: “Clearly, rise in crude price has resulted in rise in refined products prices, and that is probably why the private sector is unable to deliver their cargoes and looking a time when prices are a bit cheaper.
“I’ve always said that the position I occupy has a twin blessings of some sort. If I can get crude prices to be high, Nigeria benefits in terms of budgeting, but once I do that then I’m faced with the responsibilities that the products are going to come in higher. But I think one has to praise the NNPC. Despite that, they have done a very good yeoman job of trying to meet 100 per cent supply requirement when the private sector has jumped off. What we do need to do going forward is to see how we can incentives the private sector to see how they can go back.
“The refineries will not work the way we want them to work until the chief operating officer of the refineries complete the work they are doing.”
