Fuel scarcity worsens as product hits N250/litre in Abuja, others

The fuel scarcity ravaging the country took a new turn on Sunday as many filling stations in Abuja, Lagos, Niger, and other states dispensed Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol, at between N200/litre to N250/litre.

This is higher than the government-approved retail price of N165/litre.

It was gathered that some filling stations in Lagos sold petrol to motorists at N200/litre and still had queues, as black marketers dispensed the product at N300/litre.

In Abuja, some filling stations dispensed the commodity at N250/litre on Sunday, while fuel scarcity grew worse in neighbouring states of Nasarawa and Niger on Sunday as motorists search for petrol to move around during the Sallah break.

It was, however, learnt that the worsening queues for petrol in Abuja, Lagos and neighbouring states were due to the insufficient supply of products by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).

NNPC, which is the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria over the past years, has often claims to have enough products in store, warning against panic buying.

The members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) had last week threatened to embark on industrial action following the failure of the Federal Government to honour their outstanding payment of bridging claims for the transportation of petrol.

The IPMAN members, on Friday, said they had prepared a communiqué to be issued, detailing their demands again, adding that failure of the government to meet the demands would result in the “mother of all queues”.

The oil marketers had warned that Nigerians could witness “the mother of all queues” soon if the Federal Government failed to pay the 12 months bridging claims being owed operators in the downstream oil sector.

They had also denied being paid N74bn by the Federal Government as bridging claims for the transportation of petrol.

The Federal Government through its Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority had earlier said it paid N74bn as bridging claims to oil marketers for the transportation of petroleum product across the country in seven months.

However, the Secretary, Abuja-Suleja IPMAN, Mohammed Shuaibu, said though some members had confirmed the receipt of payments, a host of others had yet to receive theirs.

The Star