The queues are back as commuters, residents are set to face tougher times. Petrol scarcity has hit Amuwo-Odofin and other parts of Lagos state on Tuesday causing consumers to spend hours at the station while trying to get fuel.
Some filling stations such as Forte Oil in 21 Road, Festac Town, Peridot , Festac Link Bridge, and some other stations were closed yesterday as vehicular queues lengthen in the few stations that had supplies.
Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as fuel, sold for between N198 and N200 in Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo states against the official pump price of N165 at stations operated by major dealers and N175/180 by independent marketers.
Due to the scarcity and hike in purchase by black marketers and some station, transportation suddenly turned to nightmares as transport fares were seriously hiked , many passengers, commuters were stranded and some resorted to trekking.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Western Zone, blamed the development on the lack of fuel at Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) depots. It added that private depots hiked prices to N178 per litre as against N145.
IPMAN said it was practically impossible for its members to continue to sell at N175/180 per litre.
According to the Chairman of IPMAN Western zone, Dele Tajudeen, he said None of the NNPCL depots has petrol and Private depots took advantage of the situation to hike the price. The only option for our members is to opt for private depots to keep our business moving.
Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Mr. Mike Osatuyi, said; “The situation has culminated in higher prices at the depots. Our members, who find it difficult to get the product, pay between N175 – N185 per litre. Consequently, we are compelled to sell at higher prices in order to cover cost.”
“They (suppliers) have to up their load from the depots to meet up because as it is coming, people are buying. A lot of people are thinking there is still the issue (scarcity) so they will queue. It is not that there is no product, there is a lot of product in the depots. So, it is because of the break in supply of the product that is still causing the scarcity,” he noted.
One of our correspondents who visited some filling stations around Ikotun, Egbeda and Ojodu Berger areas on Monday and Tuesday witnessed long queues at the few stations that managed to sell.
An Entrepeneur, Ngozi Nzeribe, said she had queued for a long time to buy fuel from the few that were open and she just had to patronize the black marketers who sold for as high as at N300/litre.
“I was lucky to buy a 10-litre gallon at N3,500. Others said they bought at higher prices from the black marketers,” he said.
A tricyclist, Ade, who operates between Ago Palace Way and Second Rainbow Bus Stop at Amuwo-Odofin, said, “Black marketers sell five litres at N1,700 at Ago Palace during the day and N2500 at night. This is a normal thing. Whenever we are approaching the end of the year, we mostly witness fuel scarcity.”
The few filling stations that still sold the product, especially in the state capital, only sold for a few hours before announcing to motorists that the product was no longer available.
Although the majority of the black market operators sold at N2,000 per four-litre keg, they still recorded heavy patronage due to the non-availability of the product in many filling stations in the state.
Fuel scarcity was first observed at the beginning of October in the state and was attributed to the flooding witnessed along some of the routes which vehicles supplying fuel passed through.
The situation was still on as of Wednesday Morning with filling stations amassing queue’s that extending to the roads.