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After more than a year of relief from fuel scarcity in the country, filling stations in some parts of Lagos experienced queues on Monday, while some refused to sell Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, to motorists.
The pockets of fuel queues in Lagos emerged few days after the Independent Petroleum Markers Association of Nigeria, Lagos State chapter, accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation of under supplying its members with petrol.
IPMAN had said last week that its members in Lagos and parts of Ogun State might be forced to shut their filling stations by December 11 if the situation persisted. A source, who is an executive of a Lagos - based oil marketing company, told Punch, "This is the second week in which supply has not been very robust.
"The rationing started the previous week. The NNPC has been the major supplier and there have been distribution dislocations since the Apapa jetty got burnt, making it difficult for major oil marketers to get products; they have to be doing throughput with other companies, because they can't receive products through that line until the repair is completed"
Noting that demand for petrol had increased due to the approaching Yuletide, he said depot prices had gone up. "So many depots are selling above the recommended price of N 133 per litre; it is averaging between N 140 and N 142 .5 . When you know you have 10 million litres and you know people make payment of about 20 million litres on a daily basis, automatically you will begin to ration and in the process of rationing, there will be so many hidden charges " the official stated.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Abuja has issued a statement reaffirming that there was no plan to increase the prices of petroleum products. Ndu Ughamadu, the corporation’s Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, said there was no plan to increase prices at the ex-depot level.
“The NNPC has the full commitment of all downstream stakeholders, including petroleum marketers and industry unions to cooperate in achieving zero fuel scarcity this season and beyond. We enjoin motorists not to engage in panic buying or indulge in the dangerous practice of stocking petroleum products in jerry cans at home. The Petroleum Products Marketing Company and NNPC Retail Limited are fully geared up to ensure that motorists enjoy uninterrupted access to petrol throughout the nation,’’ Ughamadu said.
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