Some stranded motorists and commuters have expressed concern over frequent fuel scarcity in Lagos metropolis, resulting in the availability of a few commercial vehicles, which has led to a hike in fares.
Some of the motorists who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Lagos condemned the marketers.
They condemned them for the inability to make products available.
This was as some stations in the metropolis are already selling petrol for N800 per litre.
A NAN correspondent who monitored the situation within Lagos metropolis, discovered that only a few filling stations are selling, with long queues in most parts.
The motorists said the development has further compounded their woes.
NAN reports that this was also the same situation within Abule-Egba and environs, Abbatoir Road in Agege, Akowonjo Road, Bariga, Fola-Agoro and the popular LASU-Igando Road.
The few filling stations that dispensed petrol had long queues of vehicles stretching some meters.
The drivers had little or no hope of buying petrol.
Some of the usually busy roads were strangely deserted as commercial vehicles increased fares by 100 percent.
Across the metropolis on Monday, petrol queues were seen at filling stations like Mobil, NIPCO, TotalEnergies, Forte Oil and ConOil along Ikorodu Road.
North West at Maryland, Gbagada, NIPCO along Ijede Road in Ikorodu and TotalEnergies at the NNPC Bus Stop in Ejigbo, stretched to about 500 metres from the pumps.
Some motorists and other residents who lamented the situation said they had to resort to buying from black market operators.
Andrew Wilson, a civil servant, said he waited for over two hours at the Mobil Filling Station, Onipanu on Ikorodu Road, before deciding to look for an alternative.
Wilson said: ”I got here around 6 this morning and the queue has reached Palmgrove.
“When the queues seem not moving, l decided to resort to the black market.”
Another motorist, who gave his name simply as Lekan Balogun, returned without getting petrol to buy after waiting at NNPCL filling station at Jibowu for over an hour.
Balogun said: “I was on queue for six hours and when the station was becoming rowdy, l decided to leave the station to avoid my car being vandalised.”
A commercial bus driver, who identified himself as Lasisi Abiodun, said he noticed the queues started on Saturday as early as 6am.
Abiodun said: “I thought it was the usual dawn rush by people rushing down to their various workplaces.
“By 11am, the queues had built further, signalling that there was scarcity of petrol.”
He worried that the development was capable of worsening the already troubled economy as transport fares would skyrocket immediately.
The Executive Secretary of the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria, Clement Isong, also said his members received petrol products throughout the weekend.
Isong also confirmed that the logistic problem had been resolved, adding that there should be no need for panic.
He said: “In a couple of days, the backlog will be cleared.
“What you are seeing is panic buying.
“Today, the lines may get longer at the filling stations as motorists try to fill up their tanks.
“But I advise that there is no need to worry because NNPCL has enough stock.
“Normally, when you have situations like this (supply disruption), there will be backlogs to clear, but we have been trucking and people need to calm down because there are supplies.
“I can tell you that Mobil and TotalEnergies worked throughout yesterday (Saturday), ConOil and MRS are all trucking right now.
“So, the situation is not as bad as it appears.
“It will clear out in the course of the week.”
Also, Olufemi Soneye, the Chief Communications Officer, NNPCL, said the company had no issues with stock availability.
He explained that each time a supply disruption happens (like the one caused by logistics hiccups), it normally takes a maximum of five days for normalcy to return.
Soneye said: “It (logistics challenge) has been resolved.
“The thing is, once there’s a day or two of disruption, it takes about three to five days for normalcy to return.
“We have products and there is no cause for worry.”
Similarly, Ayo Cardoso, Coordinator, South West Region of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, said that five vessels laden with a total of 239 million litres of Petroleum Motor Spirit are currently at berth across ASPM, NOJ, Pinnacle, Techno and First Royal discharging.
He said this would provide relief and wet Lagos region.
According to him, the Lagos Regional Office summary report for the week from
April 21 to 27 reads as follows:
Premium Motor Spirit closed stock: 76,872,410; Premium Motor Spirit evacuated: 155,777,387
AGO (Diesel) closing stock: 256,993,265; AGO (Diesel) evacuated: 84,391,453
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ATK (Aviation Fuel): closing stock – 88,797,125; ATK (Aviation Fuel) evacuated – 46,707,242 while number of stations visited was 213.”
Cardoso said that the NMDPRA monitoring had set out to monitor filling stations and depots within Lagos metropolis and also around South West regions.
He appealed to Nigerians to avoid panic buying, saying that there was enough fuel in stock.