From Uche Usim (Abuja) and Adewale Sanyaolu
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has said the worsening fuel scarcity was the result of prolonged shortages in the supply chain.
IPMAN National President, Mr. Debo Ahmed, told Daily Sun in a telephone interview yesterday, that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) should free up the space and allow other players to be involved in the importation of petroleum products.
Ahmed warned that if nothing was done urgently to address bottlenecks in the fuel supply chain, the current scarcity could linger till end of the 2023 elections.
He warned that many people would be disenfranchised because they may not be able to travel to their various locations where they registered to vote.
‘‘The NNPCL keeps telling us that they have enough sufficiency is stock but the reality on ground does not in anyway support such claim as we are daily battling with fuel shortages at the depot,’’.
Ahmed explained that most of its members with tickets could not load because the product was not available at the depots.
He lamented that private depots owners with products were profiteering from the system, a situation which he said has compounded the fuel supply and distribution chain.
As at yesterday, he said the ex-depot price at the private depots has hit N245 per litre as against the approved rate of N148 per litre sold to them by NNPC. This, he said has complicated the supply, adding that many marketers that could not afford that hike were not buying
The IPMAN boss said the current situation was as a result of imbalance in demand and supply, saying more people are chasing fewer quantity of petroleum production in circulation.
The position of Ahmed was equally corroborated by the Executive Secretary of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr. Clement Isong, who said the disruption in the fuel supply chain was simply that of economics.
He explained that it was a case of more demand than supply, adding that the development has created a distortion in the market structure.
The assurances from all relevant Government agencies that they are working in collaboration with all industry stakeholders to ensure that the fuel queues disappear appears not to have yielded the desired result.
Findings by Daily Sun across the Lagos metropolis revealed that the situation was yet to abate as fuel queues across filling stations have compounded the traffic situation with long stretch of vehicles dotting most major roads in the state.
At the Total filling station on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way in Ikeja, the queues of motorists occupied the entire stretch of road, leaving a single lane for other road users.
The same situation was observed at the Mobil filling station on Awolowo Way Ikeja, stretching almost to Allen round about ditto for the NNPC filling station at Ashade Market intersection in Agege.
At the Mobil filling station by Oba Ogunji junction, long stretch of vehicles dotted the road leaving a single lane for motorists coming from Akilo inward Ogba.
The traffic condition has been further compounded as a result of the fragmented pricing regime in the downstream sector which has put pressure on the filling stations operated by major marketers.
Some of the marketers at the Apapa Depot who spoke to Daily Sun in separate interviews called on government to step up the volume of products imported into the country.
They lamented that the level of imports was not in anyway commensurate with demand, as the situation was that of shortage in petroleum products supply.
Meanwhile, The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was literally on lockdown on Thursday, as petrol scarcity caused horrendous vehicular traffic across the metropolis and suburban areas.
Daily Sun gathered from oil marketers that the development was caused by shortage of supply amid an increase in depot price of the product.
The few stations that sold petrol had very long queues as motorists slugged it out to refuel.
Consequently, many commuters trekked long distances in the scalding sun as transporters were trapped in filling stations.
The ugly development favoured black marketers who had a field day selling the product at N400 a litre.
A transporter, David Wilson said he rose from sleep at 4am to hunt for petrol and was only to buy around 5pm.
“In other words, I spent the whole day hunting for petrol. I didn’t work. I am going back home and I’ll work tomorrow. Today is a loss”, he lamented.
Another motorist, Mercy Ajek, said she spent her work hours on petrol queues.
“I didn’t step a foot into my office today. This should be addressed. It’s a horrible happy new year gift”. there were fears yesterday that the Federal Government may have increased the pump price of petrol to N184 per liter
Efforts to speak with the Spokesman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr Garba Deen Muhammad proved abortive as he did not take his call.
