Fuel Scarcity back to Lagos, Abia and Abuja

Fuel queues have returned to major parts of
Lagos and Abia states as at yesterday, a
development which suggests that the
queues that disappeared over three weeks
ago was a temporary reprieve.
The situation has further compounded the
chaotic traffic movement in and around the
metropolis, leading to long queues of
vehicles in search of petrol.
On the ever busy Iju Road in Ifako Ijaiye,
the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) retail outlet witnessed
long queues of vehicles waiting to get the
commodity same as the Megfom fuel
station on Dayo Adeniji Street, also in Ifako
Ijaiye.
The situation played out on the ever busy
Awolowo Road in Ikoyi, Lagos, as long
queues of motorists dotted the over five
fuel stations on the road.
On the Ikorodu Road axis, the situation was
not different with just a few of the stations
dispensing products while others were
under lock and key.
Recall that the Chief Executive Officer of
Seplat Petroleum Development Co Plc, Mr.
Austin Avuru, had last week said that
Nigeria will probably be hit by fuel
shortages in three weeks as the
government does not have enough money
to pay for petrol subsidies.
“In three weeks we will be back to scarcity
because we simply don’t have the money
to pay for subsidy,” said the Seplat boss at
a Bloomberg conference at the Nigerian
Stock Exchange (NSE).
Nigeria was almost grounded to a halt last
month during the country’s worst fuel
shortage in decades due to a dispute
between oil-product marketers and the
outgoing government. President Mu­
hammadu Buhari disclosed this week that
his government is facing severe financial
strain from a treasury that is “virtually
empty” and billions of dollars in debt.
But NNPC said there was enough supply of
the product. The corporation, in a
statement issued by Group General
Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr.
Ohi Alegbe, cautioned members of the pub­
lic against panic buying of petrol.
Alegbe said NNPC had stepped up efforts to
maintain stability in the supply and
distribution of petroleum products
nationwide.
He said there was enough stock of petrol to
service the country for 25 days at a
national consumption rate of 40 million
litres per day even as the corporation had
stepped up product distribution to
petroleum marketers and NNPC retail
outlets across the country.
The NNPC said it had sufficient stock of
petrol at its coastal depots in Port
Harcourt, Warri and Calabar, besides the
stock in the national strategic reserves.