Motorists and commuters in Lagos and other Southwest states are in for a tougher time as more filling stations remained shot yesterday.
Vehicular queues lengthened in the few stations that had supplies while bus stops had thousands of forlorn commuters.
Expectedly, transport fares on most routes tripled. Many passengers unable to pay, resorted to trekking.
Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as fuel, sold for between N198 and N200 in Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo states against the official pump price of N165 at stations operated by major dealers and N175/180 by independent marketers.
Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Western Zone, blamed the development on the lack of fuel at Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) depots. It added that private depots hiked prices to N178 per litre as against N145.
IPMAN said it was practically impossible for its members to continue to sell at N175/180 per litre.
But the latest report by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) on fuel availability showed that the nation has enough to last 24 days.
The report titled: ”Petroleum Products Stock and Days of Sufficiency Data”, which was cited on its website by The Nation showed that 1,546,880,583 litres of fuel were available.
Chairman of IPMAN Western zone, Dele Tajudeen, said yesterday: “None of the NNPCL depots has petrol. Private depots took advantage of the situation to hike the price. The only option for our members is to opt for private depots to keep our business moving.
“We are totally against the increase because it will affect our profit margins and the masses.
“Some private depots who have the product, deliberately, refused to sell for reasons best known to them.”
Tajudeen called on Nigerians to absolve his members of any blame in the increase in pump price, because “buying at N178 per litre from depots and selling at N170 or N180/litre is not realistic.”
He added: “Our members have no other option than to sell between N195 and N200 per litre within Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo states. We will sell between N200 and N210 in Kwara, Ondo, Osun, and Ekiti states.
”Most of the tank farm owners have justified the increase because of different charges, among which are vessel charges paid in dollars. We are equally calling on the management of the NNPCL and NMDPRA to investigate the arbitrary increase in fuel price by the private depot owners.”
An official of the Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN), who preferred to be anonymous, blamed the scarcity on a shortfall in product allocation from the NNPCL.
Sources said lifting petrol by even NNPCL franchise filling stations has been challenging in the last five days.
A station manager of an NNPCL filling station in Ogun State said for five days, he had not been able to get petrol for his station.
He added: “For five days now, I have been parading the depot to lift fuel but to no avail. Besides, prices have been increased at private depots because since my station is under NNPCL, we cannot increase pump prices without a directive. I can’t also go to any private depot to buy because I won’t be able to sell at the regulated price by NNPCL.”.
The traffic gridlock in the Lagos Apapa Port axis is also a contributory factor to the development.
