Many parts of the country continue to experience scarcity of premium motor spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol.
This follows the failure of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to release on time the first quarter allocation for petrol to marketers, informed sources say.
The PPMC, the subsidiary of the NNPC responsible for product supplies, says, however, that Lagos is being robustly supplied with petrol.
Scarcity of the product went from light to intense in Lagos at the weekend, with most stations not selling, as they claimed to have run out of the product. Despite this though, motorists formed long queues at these stations.
A few stations dispensed the product and at some of these, attendants demanded to be tipped in specified sums before selling to motorists and jerry-can bearers seeking petrol for their electricity generators.
Black marketers operated in droves at roadsides close to ‘dry’ filling stations and they sold the product for between N180 and N250 per litre. The official price is N97.
In Kogi State, filling stations were selling petrol for between N125 and N135 per litre on Sunday, while in Kano, where the black market has become the order of the day, the price ranges between N650 and N700 for four litres.
Long queues have now sprung up in many filling stations in different cities of the federation.
In Enugu, transport costs have gone up 30 percent on account of the fuel scarcity, as filling stations are selling at between N120 and N139 per litre.
Some motorists, however, say that it appears some filling stations have adjusted their pumps and are dispensing less than fair measure.
In Ogun State, despite the intervention of security agents, including the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in enforcing sales of petrol at an approved pump price, a large of number of filling stations in Abeokuta, Ijebu-Ode, Ota, Ifo, Ilaro and other major cities are still selling the product at exorbitant prices, ranging from N110 to N200 per litre.
Fuel scarcity which began since February 17, 2014, has continued in Port Harcourt and other parts of South South and South East with the usual long queues and hike in transport fares.
The scarcity began gradually until it became a huge phenomenon. Those in the fuel lifting business tried to play it down in Port Harcourt until it exploded beyond cover-up.
Cost per litre has been rising from N97 to as high as N130 in Port Harcourt and N140 in Aba area. Even within Port Harcourt, the prices differ. Those in the core of the city such as Diobu, Borokri, etc, suffer higher impact including higher prices. Those in Elelenwo up to Eleme areas have less impact because of the impact of the depot and refinery in Eleme.
The situation has led to hoarding and black market sales. A litre in the black market is up to N200.
The reasons some of the dealers gave for hiking the price are that the ex-depot price has jumped up from N91.50 kobo to N95 per litre. So also have other ancillary costs, increasing the cost of petrol above N100 per litre, they said. They claimed that the union fees on a litre of the product, which was 30 kobo, now hovers around 50 kobo and that transport costs have gone up.
A visit to the NNPC petrol depot in the Ejigbo area of Lagos on Sunday, revealed idle trucks and lounging drivers, while pockets of black marketers did brisk business in adjoining street corners.
PPMC spokesperson, Nasir Imodagbe, told BusinessDay that there was enough petrol to go round Lagos and environs and advised people not to engage in panic buying
The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) had cautioned the Federal Government over the looming fuel scarcity in the country on account of non approval of importation allocation of petrol for the first quarter.
Obafemi Olawore, executive secretary of MOMAN, had said that the NNPC alone cannot provide enough fuel for the country and urged the government to release the first quarter allocation. But the government just last week released the names of successful companies.
The current depletion rate in stock level of fuel at the depots is high and needs to replenish urgently, Olawore said.
“MOMAN depot at Apapa, which controls about 33 percent of national demand, had very little stock to push out for sale. Some major oil marketers in the country had totally run out of stock”.
Meanwhile, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) would today engage in massive monitoring of the various filling stations and depots around Lagos.
The PPMC spokesperson said there is no reason why there should be fuel scarcity in Lagos, alleging that some dealers were engaging in speculative hoarding.
In the nation’s capital, Abuja, however, our reporter observes that the petrol situation has improved and that the queues have disappeared from the filling stations
OLUSOLA BELLO; REGIS ANUKWUOJI, Enugu; RASAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta & IGNATIUS CHUKWU, Port Harcourt
