Motorist lament as queues resurface in Abuja fuel stations

Motorists in Abuja are lamenting as the queue to purchase Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, resurfaced on Tuesday and worsened on Wednesday.

BusinessDay noticed long queues in filling stations like Shema & A.A Rano located on Airport road, Oando located in the Central Business area and the NNPC filling station at Durumi.

Subsequently, black market operators are back to the streets and major bus stops selling fuel to interested motorists at N250 to N300 per litre.

Nora Okoye, a motorist, told BusinessDay that she spent over 30 minutes in a queue at Shema along airport road even though they have many pumps.

“Today’s queue was worse than yesterday and some filling stations are not even open to selling to customers, I don’t know how long this will last,” she said.

Mike Osatuyi, National Operations Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) told BusinessDay in a phone conversation that the scarcity is caused by the supply gap.

Read also: Fuel queues: Don’t panic, we’ve enough stock, says NNPC

“We do not know how long this scarcity will last now but I am sure the NNPC has seen the queue and will do something to address it,” he said.

Osatuyi added that to curb the persistent fuel scarcity experienced in Abuja, the NNPC has to improve the supply flow and also restrategize its plans.

NNPC is the only importer of petrol into Nigeria and consequently regulates how much petrol is imported and distributed.

Garba-Deen Mohammed, spokesperson of NNPC, is yet to respond to an enquiry on why petrol scarcity resurfaced and what the organization is doing to address it.

Earlier in June, the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) expressed concern about the current structure of petrol supply in the country, saying it cannot guarantee steady product supply.

Olumide Adeosun, chairman of MOMAN during a press conference suggested gradual price deregulation with targeted palliatives in the transportation and agricultural sector, which will ease the implementation of full deregulation in Nigeria’s downstream sector.