Nigerians cry out for solution to biting fuel scarcity

Nigerians are clamouring for an end to the ongoing fuel scarcity  which has lasted for about five weeks now and has been the longest fuel shortage crises the country has faced for a long time.

The pain suffering and financial loss people have been experiencing since this long  standing fuel scarcity began has been horrible.

People now spend a large chunk of their day on queues in filling stations waiting to get fuel at almost double or triple the government regulated price.

Meanwhile bus fares have tripled and most businesses are running at a loss on daily basis.

Celebrities like J Martins and Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde are some of the stars that have spoken out about the difficulties being faced during this period.

Nigerians have also gone on twitter to express their plight as the fuel scarcity persists.

Flashy prince tweeted with handle @flashyjack “no fuel to run most manufacturing process, manufactures are suffering, consumers are suffering also as to price hike”….

@olorisupergal “No light, no fuel, no uber, no transportation we are used to coping with the situation. The situation is beyond us now”…

Toke Makinwa@tokstarr “The standard of living keeps rising, how do we survive this no fuel, no light”…..

To accentuate the hardship fuel filling stations do not even sell as much as the customers want and they often refuse to sell in kegs in some instances.

The electricity situation is also not helping matters at all as citizens have been lamenting over poor power and high electricity bills.

Also for most residents of Lagos right now it is difficult to get an Uber and if you are lucky to find one, the rates have almost quadrupled.

However, the independent petroleum marketers association of Nigerian (IPMAN) recently came up with ways Buhari-led government can solve the problem of fuel scarcity in the country.

IPMAN maintained that the best way to end this scarcity is for government to decentralize loading of petroleum products for effective loading at depots across the country.

Also, they stated that scarcity will linger until the federal government sees the need to distribute petroleum products to other coastal depots.

“To solve this problem of scarcity of fuel, government must decongest Lagos by sending petroleum products to coastal depots in Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri.

“By decentralizing supply and distribution from Lagos to other depots, it would become easier for IPMAN members to lift products and distribute to filling stations,”IPMAN said in a statement.

However, IPMAN also suggested that the pipeline products marketing company (PPMC) should, as much as a matter of urgency commence distribution of products to other depots in the South-South to end the current fuel scarcity.

They also added it is imperative to review the current policy by government to enable marketers have unlimited resources for distribution and access to petroleum products to final consumers.

 

JOY USHIE