Despite
the earlier promise by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu that
the fuel queues in Lagos and Abuja would disappear by Thursday, the queues have
grown even longer.
However
investigation on Thursday revealed that the scarcity of the product would
persist beyond this week due to logistic problems, limited number of vessels
bringing in the product and clearance procedures for the vessels by relevant
agencies in the downstream oil sector.
Contrary
to the minister’s promise, hundreds of motorists were seen in queues at filling
stations in Abuja and Lagos on Thursday.
For
instance, the Total and Conoil filling stations opposite the headquarters of
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had queues, while outlets in many
other locations in the city were besieged by desperate motorists.
In
Lagos, many filling stations still did not have the product, while those who
were selling it had long queues of motorists to contend with, while black
market operators were having a field day as they continued to enjoy patronage
from many.
Explaining
why the queues would not clear this week, a marketer, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said, “The queues can’t clear this week. Even if we have 100 vessels
lined up, there are other logistic issues that follow and must be sorted out,
and there are some agencies that come on board to do these things.
“Fuel
is not a product that you just push to the market and everybody begins to buy.
We have people that check the commodity, those who see to its discharge, and
another group that determines how it is going to be sold.”
Another
source, who is an official of an independent marketer, said loading at the
depots had not improved significantly, adding that the supply might not improve
until Monday.
The
Chairman, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Lagos Zone,
Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, however, noted the supply of the product had improved,
compared to what was the case in the past two days.
He
said, “Few of the depots have started loading, courtesy of the imported fuel by
the NNPC. And they are seriously and fully engaging the services of all
stakeholders, who have also resolved to collaborate with the NNPC to ensure
that the scarcity will be eradicated soonest.”
It
was gathered that gaining access to some of the depots loading petrol in Apapa
had become difficult as they were jam-packed on Thursday such that some people
were paying as much as N300,000 to get their trucks in.
Another
vessel, with capacity of 27 million metric tonnes of petrol, owned by Nipco
Plc, is expected to come in by Sunday, a source said.
When
told that the queues in Abuja were not as severe as they were last week,
another marketer with the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, stated
that the government gave preference to depots supplying products to the FCT.
The
Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Obafemi
Olawore, said in a telephone interview that the importers were constrained by
forex, stressing that the development had been communicated to the Minister of
Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun.
“The
minister is talking to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and she is
also talking to the International Oil Companies,” Olawore explained.
He
expressed hope that the arrangement would result in something good and
substantial for the market, saying, “At the moment, the products provided by
the NNPC are the ones we are releasing to the market.”
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