By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerians continue to contend with a biting scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, which has gone unabated for over three weeks.
From Lagos to Ogun to Oyo to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as well as several other states, including Kaduna, Kano, Rivers, Niger, and Nasarawa, fuel queues remain with consumers having to purchase the product as high as N1,000 per litre at petrol stations and N1,200 per litre on the black market.
Business Post correspondents confirmed this development from at least 10 filling stations over the weekend with long queues.
At Northwest filling station located at the Gbagada-Oworonshoki Expressway, vehicle queues extended to the stretch of the road down to Anthony, creating slow traffic across the route.
Likewise, at several Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) retail stations, queues were observed with many having to turn away due to the presence of crowds.
NNPC sold between N568 and N700 per litre at its stations in Lagos. But private marketers that were open sold between N750 and N900.
Some weeks ago, NNPC Limited claimed the shortages were caused by “distribution” challenges, but it did not specify the cause of the current situation, which appears to continue into the new week.
However, NNPC has denied reports that it was indebted to international oil traders to the tune of $6.8 billion and that it had not remitted revenues to the Federation Account since January, among other allegations.
Many stakeholders have also offered their interpretation of the situation, with the president of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mr Abubakar Maigandi, blaming it on “panic buying”.
“There was an [end bad governance] protest for almost seven days and most of the depots were not loading. During the protest, we informed all our marketers to sell their products in 24 hours so that there would be no side effects in terms of the purchase of petrol.
“Immediately they called off, then we rushed to where we were supposed to load this product and we have started loading. Some of the trucks are already on the way, but we are having some challenges.
“The vessels that are supposed to bring the product to the tank farm were experiencing some delays in movement due to the rain, but that problem has been resolved,” he said on Arise Television.
As the situation continues, Nigerians have increasingly expressed worry that the situation is becoming a status quo.
“Fuel scarcity is now the norm in this country, it is absolutely worrying,” a commuter identified as Oluwaseye said.
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