Scarcity: Hope dims as petrol hits N300/litre

THREE days to the April 7 promise given by the Minister of State for Petro­leum Resources,Mr.Ibe Ka­chikwu, for fuel queues to disappear, hopes of steady supply of petroleum prod­ucts dimmed yesterday, with prices hovering be­tween N170 and N300 per litre.

Investigations by Daily Sun at the Apapa depot showed a hopeless situation as long queues of tankers dotted the entire Dockyard Road corridor with loading activities not in force.
Further investigations across filling stations re­vealed that fewer retail outlets had the product in stock, thus compounding the traffic situation along the corridors where fuel was being dispensed.

The situation was cha­otic at the Forte Oil filling station along the domestic terminal way of Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, as the long queues of mo­torists had extended to the National(Conoil) Bus stop on the ever busy Lagos- Abeokuta Expressway as at 4.00 pm, ditto for the Total filling station at Agege Pen Cinema close to the Abba­toir road intersection.

Though, there may be some level of respite for motorists from tomorrow (Tuesday), considering the injection of about 6.5 mil­lion litres of petrol which arrived the shores of Nige­ria last Thursday.
Ideally, it takes a mini­mum of four days for a ves­sel to completely discharge its contents.

That might be the reason why the impact of the 6.5 million litres was not being felt yet by the public.
The inability to source petrol has forced many commercial buses off the road while the fewer ones plying have almost doubled their fares.
For instance, a ride from Abule Egba to Oshodi, which cost N100 before the fuel scarcity, is now N200.

Some motorists who spoke to Daily Sun at the NNPC retail outlet at Abule Taylor Bus stop on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway,expressed their frustration at getting the product even after waiting for over 12 hours.

According to a motor­ist who identified himself as Mr.Ademola Raheem, that he got to the filling sta­tion around 9pm on Satur­day evening but was told to return Sunday morn­ing because they were still discharging products and that sales would only com­mence yesterday morning.
‘‘By the time I got there,I met only few cars and a lot of jerry cans.

But because they had collected extra N300 from those buying into jerrycans,they neglected those of us with cars.After waiting for over four hours,I had to take my leave,’’.
The frustration expressed by Raheem was similar to that of other motorists who expressed their disgust at the attitude of retail outlets that prefer to sell for jerry can owners to the detriment of vehicles,calling on the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to en­force the ban against sale of petrol into jerry cans.

They alleged that majori­ty of those buying into jerry cans were not car owners but racketeers, who in turn retun to sell at the black market after getting such products at official rates.
At the Blue Ocean filling station on Olaniyi street, New Oko Oba, Abule Egba, a litre of petrol was sold for N170 with many motor­ists scampering to get the product even at a higher premium.

The same scenario played out at most of the independent marketers out­lets visited by Daily Sun.
On Airport Road,Ikeja,all the filling stations along the corridor were out of stock with the road completely taken over by black market operators, selling 10 litres of petrol for N2,500 against the official pump price of N865.
Source:The Sun