DESPITE reassurances from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that the nationwide fuel scarcity would be over on Wednesday, the shortage continues to linger, as long queues can still be found in most filling stations in the Lagos metropolis and other parts of the country.
According to a statement by the General Manager, Public Affairs of the NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, on Tuesday, the scarcity should have been over yesterday.
He said, “we have the capacity to satisfy the market, whether the marketers import or not. We have 20 days supply of the product.”
However, the crisis may be far from over, as the marketers said they would not resume full importation of the product, if the Federal Government did not fast-track the payment of the petroleum subsidy for imported fuel and make a definite pronouncement on deregulation.
Investigations by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that activities in most depots were low as most of them had not yet resumed loading.
Also, the black market for petroleum products was thriving, as some filling stations would rather sell to people with kegs than motorists and motorcyclists.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, Mr. Paul Osu, a spokesman for the Department of Petroleum Resources, said that filling stations selling above the official pump price would be sanctioned. He also warned those profiteering from the situation from doing so, adding that the public was free to report any independent marketer involved in profiteering.
As the fuel scarcity persists, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has taken a swipe at the Federal Government, saying the government should be blamed for being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians.
ACF, at the end of its Board of Trustees meeting in Kaduna, on Wednesday, urged Northern governors to consider alternative source of power since the Federal Government could not salvage the power situation in Nigeria.
When the Nigerian Tribune went round the Kaduna metropolis on Wednesday, long queues of vehicles were seen at petrol stations. However, Nigerian Tribune gathered that the price of a gallon of petrol had dropped from N1,000 to N700.
Unfortunately, the scarcity of the product has created an avenue for miscreants to operate in Ibadan, Oyo State.
These thugs, who go about in jerry cans, attacked motorists, beat them up and sent them away from the stations before taken over the nozzles.
They will fill up their jerry cans with petrol before fuel can be sold to motorists.
At the Oando and Total filling stations on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway at Soka, some of the thugs code-named “Omo Alhaja” “Gbege” and others from Molete area of the state were seen, on Wednesday, beating up motorists.
Investigation revealed that the thugs, in turn, were selling the fuel to motorists at black market.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that in most cases, the thugs refuse to pay for the fuel.
At the petrol station, it is N100 per litre while it is N700 per four litres at the black market.
As a result, motorists and commuters have continued to groan, as transport fares in the state capital have been increased by between 100 and 200 per cent.
Commuters, who could not afford the high transport fares, were seen trekking to their various destinations while others were stranded at bus stops.
Pump price in Bayelsa State is now N90 per litre in almost all the filling stations except the NNPC megastation, where the free price is being sold at N65 per litre.
AP and Oando filling stations are selling at N80 while others are selling at N90 per litre.
Motorists, in turn complain, that most of the metres have been adjusted and, as a result, they have not been getting the real value on what they are charging due to the adjustment.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that some filling stations in the state are complaining of short supply even at that N90 per litre.
In one of the filling stations visited by our correspondent, there was a long queue of vehicles.
One of the motorists, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity alleged that some filling stations were selling adulterated fuel which was affecting vehicle carburator.
In Enugu, the Enugu State capital, a litre of fuel sells for between N120 and N140, depending on the area of the state where one lives while transport fares have increased by 100 per cent.
It was observed that the fuel scarcity worsened last week, when Petroleum Tankers’ Drivers (PTD), Lagos branch of NUPENG embarked on industrial action.
Although the leadership of the PTD had called off the strike but the effect is still being felt in Enugu and its environs as Lagos remained the only area where members of Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) and other oil dealers from Enugu get petroleum products, as NNPC Enugu, Aba and Makurdi had since shut down, following pipeline destruction by vandals in the areas.
Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune in Enugu, the state chairman of IPMAN, Chief Chukwudi Ezinwa, blamed the hike in fuel price in the state on government, which, he said, was not serious in tackling the problem.
Chief Ezinwa, who stated that IPMAN, had taken the issue of fuel scarcity to the Conference of South-East governors, lamented that his association was yet to get any response.
Many reasons have been advanced for the current fuel scarcity, as it persists in various parts of the country. The Nigerian Tribune gathered that the immediate cause of the problem was the explosion that occurred at the Atlas Cove in Lagos, which the firefighters could not handle and which made the NNPC to direct marketers to go to the NIPCO depot in Lagos to load. This initially made motorists to embark on panic-buying and the problem was later to extend to other parts of the South-West.
Reacting to the situation, the chairman of the Lagos state branch of IPMAN, Mr. Adebisi Bada, said the situation would persist until the repair on Atlas Cove was carried out. Bada said nobody could determine, when the fuel scarcity would end, because only few depots had fuel for distribution.
The General Secretary of PTD of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Mr. Tokunbo Korodo, said the situation was pathetic, because only three of the 27 depots had fuel and motorists concentrated on Lagos, because the three depots; Lagos, Ejigbo and Mosimi, in Ogun State, were closer to Lagos.
Korodo further noted that the worst was about to come, as trucks loading at the available depots had dropped from the usual 180 per day to 20, saying this would have to be distributed to other parts of South-West, even some northern states.
This, he said, was a plunge of over 80 per cent and that the situation would persist for some time, because even if importation was embarked upon, it would take an average of two to three weeks for the imported products to arrive from Europe, besides other logistics.
It was also gathered that the Federal Government had gradually effected the controversial removal of subsidy, compelling marketers to directly pay for the products being imported. It was also gathered that the marketers were finding it difficult to import because of the weak value of the naira. “There is no way they can keep importing, because government has removed its hands from fuel subsidy,” Korodo said.
Experts have, however, attributed the scarcity to the sorry state of the refineries, which made local production difficult. Experts, who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity, noted that the deregulation policy might be difficult to implement with the present state of refineries and lack of private operators in the system.
The president of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Babatunde Ogun, had earlier described the promise made by the NNPC as unrealistic, saying unless corruption was completely dealt with in the system, the problem would linger.
Ogun, in an exclusive interview with the Nigerian Tribune, on Tuesday, said the fundamental cause of the shortage was the comatose state of the refineries, which had made local production difficult. He noted that the decision of the Federal Government to remove subsidy on the products in the name of deregulation, when local production could not be guaranteed was to subject Nigerians to suffering.
The PENGASSAN boss lamented that the sorry state of the country’s refineries did not give room for the much-touted deregulation, noting that the marketers would find it difficult to be importing with the present situation, especially when the naira had been devalued. He added that it was wrong for government to remove the subsidy when the price of oil was falling in the international market. According to him, what government was expected to do at this time was to give ‘support fund’ to the sector and not to remove the subsidy.