Long queues resurfaced at some fuel stations in Lagos State on Tuesday, May 30, with motorists engaged in panic buying of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, across the state.
Barely hours after President Bola Tinubu declared that “fuel subsidy is gone” on Monday, long queues resurfaced across petrol stations in major cities in Lagos, as some stations began shutting their pumps.
There were long queues in many filling stations in Ikeja, Ojodu, Epe, Ikorodu, Ketu, Maryland, Bariga, and Ikorodu Road, among others while some were shut resulting in gridlock.
Panic reaction to a possible adjustment in the pump price of petrol lengthened queues at some filling stations in Lagos.
Some major oil marketers stations that were opened were not selling fuel on account of awaiting directives from headquarters.
Meanwhile, a few areas of the metropolis monitored by NAN showed cars queuing up, while other buyers were seen with different sizes of kegs and jerry cans to buy the product.
Some of the fuel stations owned by independent marketers seized the opportunity to jerk up the price from N184 per litre to as high as N350 per litre.
Other fuel stations that had earlier opened for business later shut their gates, apparently, hoarding the product.
READ ALSO: NNPCL hails fuel subsidy removal, assures sufficiency
On Ikorodu Road, the few places where the product is being sold had vehicles scampering for it, while commuters were seen stranded at various bus stops waiting to board commercial buses.
Few of the buses that were on the road for business hiked the fares between 50 and 100 per cent over fear of impending scarcity.
A motorist, who identified himself as Julius Audu, at G&G Filling Station in Somolu, said the station was shut down by the manager and declared they were no longer dispensing.
The manager declined to comment and provided no reason.
“Scarcity is coming, or they are about to create one,” a cab driver, who simply gave his name as Ibrahim, said.
Ibrahim said he had waited in line for over 40 minutes and was unsure he would get enough supplies.
However, NNPC stations in most parts of Lagos were dispensing but they had large queues as many were seen hurling 50-litre cans to buy, apparently for resale on the black market.
Prices sold at most petrol stations owned by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) have however adjusted to N350 per litre.
Many petrol station owners were reportedly hoarding the product in anticipation of a price increase.
The immediate past chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) who doubles as the Managing Director, 11 Plc, Adetunji Oyebanji, while speaking on subsidy removal, said: “This is a welcome development.
“The country is bleeding every day and we are getting to a stage where if we are not careful all our revenue will be going into world-serving debt and going into the subsidy. This means we have no money left to do any other things, such as paying salaries.
“The people kicking against this interest will end up suffering even more.
“The amount of money spent on this subsidy has been documented in so many different forays and different places. People have talked about it over the years and to make matters worse a lot of it is going toward subsiding other companies in Africa, hence it has to go.”
Oyebanji, who stressed that the fuel subsidy removal was long overdue, added: “I have been an advocate of the removal of fuel subsidy because it is not benefiting the ordinary man but rather the elites who drive cars.
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