Posted by By LOUIS IBA on
The scarcity of petroleum products, especially petrol, worsened over the weekend in Lagos and neigbouring states, forcing a hike in transport fares by as much as 50 per cent.
The scarcity of petroleum products, especially petrol, worsened over the weekend in Lagos and neigbouring states, forcing a hike in transport fares by as much as 50 per cent.
Most filling stations visited by Daily Sun, had signs of ‘No Fuel' and the few attendants who agreed to speak on why they were not dispensing their products to customers all responded with the phrase: 'We don't have any fuel to sell to customers."
In Victoria Island and along the ever-busy Abeokuta - Oshodi expressway and the Oshodi - Apapa expressway, all of the filling stations belonging to the major marketers, notably Mobil, Texaco, Oando, Conoil, and African Petroleum, were shut. Only one independent marketer, Fagbems, had products to sell and it was characterized by a long queue of desperate customers wanting to buy the product.
Curiously, while the stations had ‘no fuel' signs displayed at their entry points, Daily Sun sighted many young men in front of such filling stations, making brisk business out of the scarcity, selling petrol to customers at rates three times the official rate of N70.
For instance, a ten litres jerrycan of petrol, which should be sold for about N700 was sold for between N2, 500 and N3, 000, depending on the bargaining power of the buyer.
An in routes which commercial vehicles hitherto charged about N50, the fares had gone up to N100.
As at Sunday, there were no signs the scarcity would abate, as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) remained firm in its decision to prevent the discharge of cargoes of imported blended petrol having ethanol content exceeding five per cent.
The DPR, which regulates the industry, said its decision was borne out of the need to safeguard the engines of consumers of petrol, especially following the case of toxic petrol, which destroyed the engines of many cars in Lagos recently.
Industry sources told Daily Sun that the DPR had refused to allow the discharge of some cargoes of imported petrol over the weekend as they failed to meet the minimum content requirement.
The source said it was the DPR's refusal that had created the scarcity as most marketers had run out of their stock as at Friday. He also said the NNPC had waded into the crisis to see how it could be resolved in the interest of all stakeholders.