Commuters and businesses in Lagos are experiencing acute shortage of
premium motor spirit (PMS) known as fuel with many filling stations
locked up due to unavailability of the product. This is creating
business for roadside sellers who dispense the product from their big
jerry cans at N200 per litre.
Few of the major stations that have the product and are selling at
approved price of N97 are experiencing severe traffic bottlenecks. The
street urchins who established black market outlets in areas worst hit
by the scarcity are making brisk business as vehicle owners and
residents unable to wait for long in queues purchase from them at
skyrocketed price.
LEADERSHIP investigation of the fuel situation in Lagos observed the
resurgence of queues around parts of Lagos, with black marketers having
field day along major routes from Ketu up to Maryland and along
Palmgrove Ojuelegba axis. Five litres of fuel sells at N1,000 while 30
litres goes for N6,000 translating to N200 per litre.
Oando, Conoil and Mobil filing stations at Maryland, Lagos, were
besieged by hundreds of both private and commercial vehicle owners as
well as those buying in jerry cans for their generators. The situation
worsened towards evening when attendants could not control the menace
caused by commercial vehicle operators who formed parallel lines causing
heavy build up of traffic.
Along Palmgrove on the popular Ikorodu Road, black market traders
have fuel in jerry cans and selling above pump price while most filling
stations had ran out of stock. The situation further affirmed the
position held by major petroleum marketers that the situation may remain
chaotic in the next one month until when new consignment would be
arriving the country.
Executive secretary of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria
(MOMAN), Mr Obafemi Olawore, said the federal government, through the
Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), just released
first quarter allocation of fuel importation to petroleum marketers, who
will now commence the importation of the product.
He assured that fuel would reach everywhere in the next one month
when importers would have brought in the product from outside the shores
of the country.
He blamed the non-release of the fuel allocation for the first
quarter of the year as well as the non-payment of N120 billion to
importers of the product under the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) to
affected marketers as the cause of the problem.
The release of the product allocation to these marketers is expected
to buoy supply of fuel which has been scarce in the last few days. It
would be recalled that MOMAN had early in the year warned of shortage of
petrol following non-release of import allocation by government.
Olawore while briefing the media on the situation alerted the nation
that products at depots operated by the organisation was fast depleting.
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An Independent marketer at Akute, a bordering town in Ogun State,
Mr.Chidi Ahaotu said the situation may have been aggravated with the bad
situation in Oyo State where buyers have gone through trauma especially
in Ibadan. Ahaotu, said he long exhausted his supply which he usually
receive from Mosimi depot.
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