…As motorists accuse marketers of rip off
From Uche Usim, Abuja
The two-week petroleum products scarcity which jolted Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country ebbed towards the weekend, with queues at filling stations reducing substantially.
The soothing development followed the 24-hour depot and retail sales strategy adopted by the National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Filling stations visited within Abuja metropolis which had queues stretching over 200 metres have reduced to average of 20 vehicles in each station.
More so, most of the private marketers who had ran out of stock were seen dispensing petrol.
Recall that the NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Ventures and Chairman of the NNPC Special Task Force on Fuel Monitoring, Dr. Victor Babatunde Adeniran, had assured on Tuesday that the Corporation has sufficient stock of petroleum products for the yuletide and beyond.
In a similar vein, the Managing Director of PPMC, Mr. Umar Ajiya, said the NNPC took delivery of two cargoes on Wednesday with 50 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol. He added that the Corporation was expected to take delivery of a minimum of one cargo per day going forward.
He said the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) personnel had been deployed to all the depots across the country to ensure that petroleum products were sold at the official price to petroleum marketers to avoid any shock in supply of petroleum products.
However, motorists say though the fuel shortage challenge has reduced, they were still faced with another nightmare which has to do with the crooked upward adjustment of metres to rip off consumers.
A motorist, Hassan Mahmoud, lamented that he bought N3,000 petrol which ought to be 20 litres, but ended up with 16 litres when sold in a jerrycan to him.
“This is another form of scarcity. Government agencies should look into this silent extortion. It’s just so unfair”, he lamented.
Another motorist, Dotun Banjo urged the PPPRA and PPMC, to set up a task force to monitor fuel sales and clampdow on dealers who have adjusted their meters.