Fuel queues yesterday re-surfaced at petrol stations in Abuja and other states of the federation forcing the price of the product to sell at as high as N72 a litre in some filling stations as against the official price of N65 a litre.
Our correspondents report that motorists queued up for hours at various petrol stations in Abuja, Maiduguri and Calabar in their hope to buy the product, even as black marketers had a field day making brisk businesses.
Reports from Maiduguri indicate that only the NNPC mega station along Damboa Road was open to business yesterday, as all other stations in the metropolis were shut down.
The situation was not any different in Calabar and Uyo where tanker drivers have stopped lifting fuel due to the deplorable condition of the Calabar-Itu highway, a major artery linking Cross River and Akwa Ibom States.
While the product sells for between N85 and N90 a litre in some filling stations in Uyo, Calabar is virtually dry with almost all filling stations starved of the product.?
Similarly, at Taen Oil Nig Ltd, One Man Village in Nasarawa State, an Abuja suburb, the product was sold at N72 per litre, even as motorists scrambled to purchase the scarce commodity.
Black marketers who took advantage of the situation were selling the product at between N90 and N150 a litre in the affected States.
But a statement by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday assured that there was sufficient fuel in circulation, noting that the scarcity was induced by panic buying.
The statement issued by the NNPC’s Spokesman, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma explained that the observed panic-induced fuel queues have nothing to do with shortage in supply of petroleum products, adding that marketers and private depot owners are being adequately supplied with products.
“As at today, the PPMC has stepped up supply of products to Abuja and environs from the normal 150 trucks per day to 224 trucks. This situation will be sustained from now through the period of Christmas and New Year festivities till January. I can assure you there is no shortage of PMS or any other petroleum product now or in the foreseeable future as the PPMC has a 54-day fuel sufficiency in strategic reserves,” Ajuonuma stated.
He said the complaints by some marketers that they could not lift products over the weekend because the officials of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF), were not available for inspection as a result of a purported strike by staff of the agency, was found not to be the case as the Executive Secretary of PEF has confirmed that members of staff of the agency did not at any time embark on a strike action.