Nigeria Grounded As Petrol Scarcity Bites Harder

Scarcity of petrol persisted in Lagos on Wednesday as motorists spent close to five hours at filling stations queuing for the commodity which was not forthcoming.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent who monitored the situation, reports that most of the filling stations at Costain, Ojuelegba, Agege, Isolo and Ojota areas were not dispensing the product.

NAN reports that most of the independent oil marketers’ filling stations at Iyana-Ipaja were selling at the pump prices of between N100 and N120 per litre. A petrol attendant at a filling station in Iyana-Ipaja, said that he was directed by the managing director of the station to sell the product at N100 per litre.

At Mushin, long queue of vehicles prevented free flow of vehicles at Oando and Mobil filling stations, which were selling the product at the official pump price of N86.50. Some motorists, who spoke with NAN, appealed to the Federal Government to find lasting solution to the lingering fuel scarcity problem.

A resident of Iyana Ipaja, Mrs Bimpe Akinfenwa, who queued for fuel in a filling station at Mushin, lamented that she had spent hours in the station. Akinfenwa said that the government should come up with lasting solutions to the scarcity, adding that motorists were finding it difficult to procure the product.

Another motorist, Mr Segun Folarin, urged the government to privatise the nation’s four refineries so that Nigerian could produce petroleum products at optimum capacity.

Folarin said that the present state of the nation’s refineries was contributing to the scarcity of the product. An Independent Oil Marketer, Chief Folorunsho Alake, had attributed the scarcity of petrol to increase in ex-depot price of the product.

Alake said that mostindependent marketers were forced not to lift the product, because it would be difficult to sell at the official price of N86:50.

“How can I buy the product from private depot at N95 per litre and be expected to sell at N86:50; it will not be profitable,” he told NAN.

He urged the government to ensure that private depots comply with the NNPC template of ex-depot price of N77 per litre; so that independent marketers in Lagos would start loading from the depots.