Fuel scarcity bites harder

…Across Nigeria, motorists, others groan
By Job Osazuwa
In the past week, Nigerians have again been going through
some harrowing times. Everywhere you look across the
country, what you see are long queues of motorists
seeking to buy fuel at filling stations.
The incident has led to sharp practices by some oil
marketers that fix arbitrary prices far above the official
pump price approved by the Federal Government for
Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) across the country.
Nigerians are perturbed on what could have gone wrong,
as the fuel crisis seems to be worsening by the day.
Though it has not really triggered any appreciable increase
in the price of food commodities and transport fare,
consumers of petrol are groaning over an increase in the
pump price and are begging the government to quickly act
so that the situation would not escalate and go out of
hand. For the few filling stations that still sell at N87, long
queue of vehicles, tricycles, motorcycles and jerry cans
are common sights.
Nigerians from different walks of life told Daily Sun that if
the fuel scarcity and price in pump price do not subside as
soon as possible, it might unleash untold hardship on the
end users.
In the same vein, owing to lack of regular power supply in
most parts of the country, households and businesses that
depend on fuel to power their generator sets are no longer
able to do so at filling stations. They are now at the mercy
of black market dealers. Many now buy fuel at N200 per
litre.
A tricycle rider, who plies Ikeja G R A, Lagos, Mr. Chima
Okechukwu told Daily Sun yesterday that though he
bought fuel for N87 yesterday, he wasted more than an
hour on the queue before he could get the product. He
lamented that the attendants gave preferential treatment
to customers buying with kegs because of the extra N30
and N50 they are subjected to pay.
“The filling station attendants where I bought fuel this
morning preferred to sell the products to those customers
that came with jerry cans because of the extra money they
collect from them. Motorists, especially commercial
drivers and others who were not patient enough to remain
on the queue, ended up looking for jerry can to buy the
fuel and transfer to their tanks,” he said.
Randomly, the average cost per litre of fuel is N100 across
the nation. From happenings across Nigeria, it shows that
fuel price averages N100 per litre in the South West states
of Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Ogun. In the South
East and South-South zone particularly in Rivers, Akwa
Ibom, Bayelsa, Anambra, Imo and Abia states, petrol sells
for a little above N100 and has almost steadied at an
average of N110 per liter.
It was reliably gathered that as yesterday, most filling
stations were selling at N120 in Benin City, Edo State, a
price that many motorists described as outrageous.
Martins Ehiorobo, who spoke with Daily Sun reporter on
the telephone, said: “Filling stations have been selling
above N87 for some months now, but the situation got
worse since few days ago. As at today, most of the filling
stations are selling for N120. Our tolerance is being
pushed to the wall. I voted for all APC candidates but this
is not the change I voted for. It should not take the new
government a whole year to make fuel to be regular and
affordable.”
In the Northern states, such as Federal Capital Territory,
and in Kaduna, Gombe, Bauchi, Kano and Nassarawa
States, the average cost of petrol is N105 per litre.
According to Daily Sun investigation, petrol stations are
not dispensing petrol fuel at the pump price, and very
many of them do not have fuel available. And when they
do, they sell above the regulated pump price.
In Abuja for example, it is reported that while some of the
filling stations within the city centre manage to comply
with the approved pump price, the situation is not the
same in the outskirts.
For instance, in Bwari town in Bwari Area Council, a litre of
PMS is said to be selling between N105 and N120, while in
Jikwoyi and Karshi in the Abuja Municipal Area Council,
petroleum products are relatively cheaper as some of the
retail filling stations sell for about N95 per litre.
In all these, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC) and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR),
which oversee the activities of the fuel stations, have not
come out to tell Nigerians what exactly is responsible for
the unhealthy development. The buyers are helplessly left
at the mercies of the oil marketers, which fix their
convenient prices.
At a particular NNPC filling station on Ekoro road in Lagos,
petrol sells at the regulated price but sale attendants were
collecting between N20 and N40 from customers buying
with Jerry cans unlike before at the station.
There is another filling station at Abule Egba, where the
attendants mandate people to buy N50 and N100 worth of
engine oil before they sell fuel to them at the normal N87
per litre.
A hairdresser, Mrs. Odunubi Esther at Abule Egba area of
Lagos expressed dismay at the development.
She said: “I don’t know what is actually wrong this time
around. You can’t say there is no fuel. There is fuel, but it
is expensive. Nigerians have been taken for granted for
too long. I am personally worried because I was expecting
that the new government under President Muhammadu
Buhari would reduce the price per litre when he settles
down in office. But with the way things are going, I don’t
think there is any such plans. Rather, we are forced to pay
higher. However, the interesting thing is that Nigerians are
now more conscious of their leaders’ promises. They are
more interested in asking questions now unlike in the past
when politicians got away with unfulfilled political
promises.
“I run my business on fuel and I am not finding it funny
buying the product. Some filling stations actually sell for
N110 per litre in my area. Another frustrating thing is that
the power supply, which appeared to have improved when
the President newly assumed office, has suddenly dropped
sharply. For those of us that use generating sets both at
home and for business, it is a major challenge.
“Now, when there is power outage, which is almost every
night, I stay outside till 11pm because of the heat in the
house.”
Many people also complained that the sale attendants at
the filling stations are engaged in sharp practices. Many, it
was gathered, have been short-changing their customers
by selling less fuel to the unsuspecting customers.
In the same vein, the oil markers, both major and
independent oil marketers, are fond of shutting down most
of their dispensing pumps, thereby creating artificial
scarcity and long queues at filling stations.
Residents of Nassarawa State lamented last week that a
litre of PMS has been selling at N110 since July this year.
In the black market, the product sells for between N200
and N250.
Similarly, in Lokoja the Kogi State capital, reports have it
that PMS is sold at independent filling stations for an
average of N110 per litre while in Suleja, the price varies
from one fuel station to the other, ranging from N95 to
N110 per litre. The situation is similar in Gombe, which
goes for N100/N115 per litre.
Nigerians are calling on the federal government to do
something urgently. “We voted for President Buhari so that
our lives would be better. This fuel scarcity must be
tackled immediately by the government,” Chidi Okonkwo, a
businessman, told the reporter.