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| struggle to buy fuel |
Last week’s release of the petrol
import allocation to marketers has not eliminated long queues of
motorists at filling stations in most parts of the country and the
situation is likely to get worse in the days ahead, DAYO OKETOLA and OKECHUKWU NNODIM write
The current scarcity of petrol in many
parts of the country may persist for the next three weeks, our
correspondents have gathered.
Many motorists spent most part of
Saturday and Sunday in queues at the few filling stations that had the
product to sell in Lagos and Ogun states, as well as the Federal Capital
Territory, with fears that the situation might degenerate in the coming
days.
The Chairman, South-West chapter,
Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Mr. Tokunbo Korodo,
who spoke with one of our correspondents on Sunday, said that most of
the depots in the country were already empty, adding that the available
product could not meet the national demand, hence the queues.
He, however, said the situation would
take about three to four weeks to ease considering the fact that
marketers only received the import allocation for the first quarter last
week.
Korodo, said, “There was a delay in the
approval of import allocation to the marketers. The import allocation
was given last week and you know everything has a due process. The
marketers will have to contact their banks, order for the product, and
ship the product to Nigeria. As such, it will take three to four weeks
for the product to get to the Nigerian soil.
“Had it been that the government was
proactive enough to give approval to them in time, we will not be in
this situation; and now, we should be thinking about the approval for
the second quarter because this is March already.”
He also spoke on the way forward,
saying, “If the NNPC can release whatever they have in their own stock
to all the marketers that have facilities to distribute and dispense,
the scarcity will be quenched. We all know that the NNPC’s ability to
distribute petroleum products is being hampered as a result of vandalism
of pipelines.
“Therefore, it is distributing through
some private facilities, but it has preference in releasing products to
the marketers. But if the NNPC can release the products it has in its
stock to all the marketers, this ugly situation will be quickly
arrested. But if it continues to give preference to some marketers, the
situation will continue to escalate.”
The Petroleum Products Pricing
Regulatory Agency released the import allocation for the first quarter
last week, but expert said it came after the product stocked by most
marketers had already dried up.
The Executive Secretary, Major Oil
Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, had warned of an
impending scarcity if the import allocation was not released in time,
stressing it would not augur well for the country if the major
marketers’ stocks were allowed to dry up.
“There will be fuel scarcity in the
country if the major marketers’ supply is not replenished because we
account for 60 per cent of the national product demand across the
country,” he had said.
The Chairman, Depot and Petroleum
Products Marketers Association, Mr. Dapo Abiodun, had similarly warned
that the left over from the fourth quarter of 2013 and the Pipelines and
Product Marketing Company supplies would dry up soon.
“This is why queues building up. There is a shortage of supply in the system,” he said.
Abiodun also estimated that it would take some time for the marketers to bring in new products.
One of our correspondents, who monitored
the situation in Lagos in the early hours of Sunday, reported that few
filling stations that had the product to dispense recorded huge crowd of
desperate motorists in queues, and this caused gridlock in many areas.
For instance, the MRS filling station at
Mangoro area; Forte Oil and Conoil filling station at Cement; Mobil
filing station located at Abekoko area as well as the Oando, Jimmy Co,
Propel and Capital Oil Plc filling stations at Pako area of Lagos shut
their gates against customers.
This gave fuel hawkers the opportunity to sell to motorists who could not bear the endless queues at filling stations.
“I ran out of fuel on Saturday and I
need to go to work tomorrow (Monday). That is why I am here. I can’t
even go to church,” Mr. Jide Odeyemi, who spoke with our correspondent
at the Acorn filling station, Ketu, said.
“I wouldn’t want to spend my Sunday
afternoon queuing up for fuel when I should be preparing for work on
Monday. That was why I didn’t go to church today,” Mr. Uche Okorie, said
at a Conoil filling station in the same area.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation, Department of Petroleum Resources and the PPPRA
on Sunday announced their resolve to commence a nationwide monitoring of
petrol stations in a bid to check hoarding of the product.
The acting Group General Manager, Group
Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Dr. Omar Ibrahim, said in a statement
that the monitoring was a new measure adopted to halt what he called
artificial fuel scarcity noticeable in some parts of the country,
particularly in Lagos and its environs.
He said agencies would “commence
detailed monitoring of fuel stations in Lagos and its environs as well
as any other state to check the incidence of hoarding and panic buying
of fuel.”
“We tried it in Abuja and its environs;
and today, effective monitoring has decimated the hitherto long fuel
queues in Abuja. We are extending the extensive joint monitoring to
Lagos,” Ibrahim said.
The NNPC spokesman stated that as the
supplier of last resort, the corporation was doing everything possible
to alleviate the avoidable hardship caused by the current scarcity.
He reiterated that the Federal Government had no plan to increase the pump price of petrol as being speculated.
Ibrahim said, “It is pertinent to state
for the umpteenth time that there is no plan by the Federal Government
to increase the price of petrol. Once again, we appeal to marketers to
refrain from hoarding and urge members of the public not to engage in
panic buying.
“We are convinced that in the days ahead, the fuel situation will normalise as there is enough petrol to go round.”
Iyanya just got a brand new 2014 Toyota Prado SUV from Solo Phones. The SUV was presented to him this morning after a brand activation ceremony that held at Solo Phone office at computer village in Ikeja. The singer was unveiled as brand ambassador for the phone late last year. Iyanya pictured mobbed by fans as he leaves computer village. Congrats to him. See more pics after the cut...
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