The acute shortage of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol worsened at the weekend in Lagos and Abuja as long queues of vehicles dotted a few filling stations dispensing fuel.
The regulator had last Tuesday said the limited quantity of PMS with methanol quantities above Nigeria’s specification was discovered in the supply chain.
The development has equally taken a negative toll on the traffic situation as vehicles queues have narrowed most roads to a single lane.
Findings by Daily Sun across the Lagos metropolis revealed that the fuel scarcity deepened on Saturday but got worse on Sunday as the number of filling stations without fuel had increased.
The inability of retail outlets to dispense fuel to motorists however contradicts the assurance given by the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) last Wednesday that at least six vessels of 300 litres of petrol ordered by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited had arrived in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer, NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, said the vessels came in with 300 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) meant to close the gap created by the contaminated petrol withdrawn from depots and filling stations.
He said, “Today, I am happy to say that loading has been going on in most of the depots because we have been able to identify, isolate and quarantine the limited amount of gasoline that was affected by the methanol volume that was discovered.
“We have vessels that have arrived in the country recently. At least six arrived in the last few days ordered by the NNPC, carrying a total volume of close to 300 million litres, just to close the gap created by those vessels we have withdrawn from the system.”
According to him, the country currently has petrol volume in-store that can last for 20 days. He, however, said, “Our ideal days of sufficiency is 30 but because of the concern that made us withdraw the vessels which created the gap in our 30 days sufficiency.
“Again, with aggressive importation by the NNPC, this will be closed in a few days, according to the data we got from the NNPC’s import programme.
“Loading is also ongoing in most of the depots that have confirmed spec products; so, there is no need for panic. Hopefully, by tomorrow, Lagos will be cleared.”
According to Ahmed, there is a 9,000MT vessel that is currently about to discharge at Apapa port to major marketers including OVH, TotalEnergies, 11 Plc, Conoil and Ardova Plc.
“So, once these vessels complete discharging and start pushing the products to marketers, I believe Lagos will be cleared by Friday. We have got that assurance from the marketers.
“Also, most of these vessels will also be providing volumes to most of the members of the key members of DAPPMAN,” Ahmed added
But some of the managers of fuel retail outlets who spoke to Daily Sun yesterday said they had yet to receive products since last week while those dispensing said what they are selling was leftover of old stock. The managers without products said they have dispatched trucks to various depots since last week but were yet to be supplied.
‘‘Our truck drivers have been at various depots. But the feedback we have gotten from them is that they are still keeping vigil as they are yet to be called in for loading,’’.
On the ever-busy Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, only the Conoil Filling Station at Valley Estate was seen around 11.30am dispensing fuel to motorists ditto for Danco filling station at Old Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
At the Local Airport, Ardova filling station was also dispensing fuel to motorists but had long queues of motorists.
The majority of the filling stations in New Oko-Oba, Abule Egba, as of yesterday morning were equally out of stock except for Conoil Filling station on Dayo Adeniji Street, which commenced sales of fuel as early 8am.
At Javy filling station, in Oke-Afa, Isolo, Lagos, a litre of petrol was sold for N200.
In the same vein, Abuja residents are currently experiencing a difficult time getting fuel as many filling stations are out of stock.
Daily Sun observed that many petrol tankers were parked at various filling stations but without petrol to discharge.
The development is consistent with the position of the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), which last week, insisted that the current fuel scarcity experienced across the country may not abate soon as more tanker owners were shutting down operations due to the stifling business environment that has made them run at a loss.
The National President of the Association, Alhaji Yusuf Othman, said: “We’re parking our tankers, more will still park. They’re running at a loss. The operation cost is unbearable”.
He called for a review of various freight rates and the implementation of agreements to ensure tanker owners can operate profitably.
The few filling stations that sold petrol had long queues stretching for about half a kilometre.
Motorists who spoke with Daily Sun said they were back to the ugly era of sleeping at filling stations hoping to get petrol.
Jonas Okoro, a taxi driver, told Daily Sun, that most filling stations prefer to sell at night (between midnight and 4am) to enable them to sell to black market dealers in jerrycans.
“I bought petrol somewhere in zone 4 around 3am. I slept there actually. That is what it has come to. The situation is worse than last week’s”, he said.
Kevin Brown, another taxi driver said: “right now, we call each other to know the filling station to go and sleep there”.
From Kubwa to Wuse, Maitama to Asokoro, only a few stations sold petrol on Sunday afternoon.
However, petrol was available in 10-litre jerrycans at N400/litre at the black market.
The development has horribly impacted many small and medium enterprises who rely on petrol generators to run their businesses.
At popular bus stops, scores of motorists were stranded as fewer commercial vehicles operated.
Transport fares rose marginally due to demand outpacing supply. From Kubwa to Wuse that was hitherto N200 skyrocketed to N300.
An NNPC source said vessels laden with petrol were already at berth in Apapa port in Lagos. “The situation will ease off this week as more marketers get supplied with petrol.”
