Fuel supply worsens in Lagos

Lagos woke up Thursday to worsening fuel situation in the metropolis with most filling stations closed to anxious and frustrated customers.

There had been apprehension in the oil industry, especially the downstream, following Tuesday’s announcement of the re-organisation of the NNPC into seven units by Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum and group managing director of the NNPC.

The re-organisation sparked off nationwide protests by workers of the NNPC and the two unions in the oil industry, as they faulted what they termed ‘minister’s unilateral decision,’ without recourse to the Act establishing the NNPC, and consulting with stakeholders, including labour unions.

The protest, which led to the partial shut down of NNPC operations, had heightened fear of worsening fuel scarcity. This forced motorists and consumers of petrol to troop out to filling stations to buy the products ahead of the weekend.

Across Lagos, it was hellish at some of the stations that sold the product, as desperate commuters and motorists competed with black-marketers to buy.

Jerry cans and kegs were everywhere as consumers moved from station to station in search of petrol.

The NNPC mega station after Alausa Secretariat, on the way to Old Toll Gate, had a very long queue as early as 6am, even though it was not dispensing fuel.

In Surulere, a filling near Ojuelegba, directly opposite the Police Barrack, looked like hell, with ‘area boys’ assisting the kegs-wielding youths to buy and resell to desperate transporters, to the chagrin of the car owners.

“We agreed he (Buhari) warned us to prepare for a tough journey, but he never told us the trip would be as hellish as this,” a motorist shouted, as others chanted “change, change!” as they waited in the queue.

In Apapa, when BusinessDay went round, one station had fuel to dispense, and the queue was expectedly long. Its proximity to the Apapa Police Command however ensured sanity.

Hell was let loose Wednesday, after news broke that oil workers had embarked on a full-scale industrial action, resulting in the shutdown of the NNPC corporate headquarters, product depots and mega filling stations.

The workers, all members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, adopted the current option to shut the NNPC to protest against the restructuring of the national oil firm by the Federal Government.

The strike has, however, been suspended, raising the hope the situation may improve by this weekend.