From Uche Usim, Abuja
Despite repeated assurances by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) that it has a 30-day petrol sufficiency, long queues in filling stations in Abuja, Lagos and other parts of the country puncture such bogus claims.
Motorists now sleep in filling stations in Abuja to buy the product.
A taxi driver, Mark Ibilo, told Sunday Sun that some members of his union have created a WhatsApp Group to share intelligence on which filling stations sold petrol and at what time.
“Aside from that, once we see a petrol tanker in the metropolis, we chase it to know which station it’s going to discharge the product. It is that bad because this is worse than hell. We no longer sleep at home. Once we close for the day, we choose a filling station to retire to and queue up there. My wife and children see me once a week. Too bad”, he lamented.
Another motorist, Nasir Abbas, said it was surprising that no one has been sacked in the petrol scarcity imbroglio.
“I bought bad fuel last week and it damaged my golf car. This corolla isn’t mine but a friend’s. My golf is still at the mechanic. It’s a terrible development. No petrol. No light. This country is terrible. NNPC will keep saying they have petrol. Where is it? These guys are toying with the economy of Nigerians”, he wailed.
Meanwhile, black marketers are smiling to the bank in Abuja, selling a 10-litre jerrycan of petrol for N4,000.
Abu Dongo, a black market dealer said he buys from filling stations between midnight and 4am.
“We buy at night and settle security personnel to avoid arrest”, he said.
But despite the scarcity, the NNPC on Friday assured Nigerians for the umpteenth time that it has sufficient stock of petroleum products for distribution across the country and is working assiduously with partners to ensure the product reaches every part of the country.
Spokesman of NNPC, Mr Garba Deen Muhammad in a statement said that efforts were being intensified to resolve distribution hitches being experienced in some parts of the country due to logistics issues.
“To this effect, NNPC is engaging depot operators to load products round the clock to accelerate the restoration of normal distribution.
NNPC has also engaged the services of government security agencies to ensure that all products loaded get to the right destination.
‘We urge Nigerians to continue to be patient as we strive to restore the situation to normalcy”, he said.
Unfortunately, the latest statement from NNPC is not different from other bogus promises made that have failed flat to solve the petrol scarcity nightmare.
The Nigerian economy has been slowed down by the petrol scarcity imbroglio as many Nigerians spend many hours at filling stations just to buy the vital product.