Fuel Scarcity: Nigerians Take Fresh Move over Cost of Petrol Price, Others

Despite assurances from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) that there is ample stock of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in Nigeria, fuel queues have persisted across Lagos State.

This is a sequel to the NNPCL stating that there were no issues with fuel supply, attributing recent distribution challenges in Lagos to a brief issue that had been resolved.

Meanwhile, motorists were seen in long queues especially at filling stations on the major roads, including the Apapa/Oshodi/Ibadan expressway, as they struggled to get products for their vehicles.

De Erudite Media gathered that many of the stations including those belonging to the state oil company were under lock and key, and while Enyo filling station which had been bought over by the NNPCL, sold product consumers at N605 per liter, those belonging to independent marketers sold at between N620 and N650.

TotalEnergies Filling station at the Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way had queues which led to heavy traffic around the Ikeja axis.

The National Vice Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Hammed Fashola, denied being in the know of the lingering queues in the state.

He however said the queues might be due to panic-buying on the part of customers.

“I am not in Lagos as we speak. But I heard about it too that there are queues in Lagos. It may just be panic buying. I am not sure there is fuel scarcity. People are just panicking. However, I will find out what the problem is,” Fashola said.

The development comes on the heels of a recent report by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), stating that petrol prices rose astronomically by 226 percent in the last year.

According to the report obtained by Channels; revealed the average retail price paid by consumers of petrol for December 2023 was N672 per litre, indicating a 226 percent increase when compared to the value (N206 per litre) recorded in December 2022.