Anxiety As Fuel Scarcity Spreads To States

There are strong indications that the menace called ‘fuel scarcity’ which reappeared last week in Abuja is gradually creeping into other states of the country, even as petroleum marketers have said that until the Federal Government pays up the subsidy areas it is owing them, there is no way they could go back to importation.

There are strong indications that the menace called ‘fuel scarcity’ which reappeared last week in Abuja is gradually creeping into other states of the country, even as petroleum marketers have said that until the Federal Government pays up the subsidy areas it is owing them, there is no way they could go back to importation.
Sources confirmed to Shipping Position Daily last week that the fuel scarcity has actually crept into Imo and Ekiti states. It was also confirmed that the pump price of petrol in Imo State has risen to N150 and N140 in Imo and Ekiti states respectively.
The price of the commodity in Abuja has also risen to N300 per litre even as residents still need to travel to Keffi in neighboring Nasarawa State before they could get the product. It was also confirmed that vehicle owners in Ekiti State had to travel to the neighboring states of Ondo, Osun and Kogi before they could get fuel.
Speaking with our correspondent last week, Chairman of the Stakeholders Committee of Depot Operators at the Ibru yard, Mr. Geoffrey Okorie who was in Imo State as at the time, explained that the main cause of the shortage in fuel supply is the  delay in subsidy payment to marketers.
Okorie said that apart from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, mega-station that was selling the product, others were out of stock.
According to him, “in as much as the Federal Government is yet to sort out these payments, supplies will be limited because marketers will not import products if the Federal Government is tying down their money, they need these monies for business”.
According to him, the product that is in circulation presently is the one imported by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Stakeholders have however said that the NNPC alone cannot meet the huge demand of fuel importation in the country.
He confirmed that petroleum tanker drivers are lifting the product from Lagos but that it the demand is currently more than the supply available.
Contrary to speculations that the tanker drivers may have gone on an unannounced strike and avoiding loading the product, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Worker (NUPENG) last week also assured that its members were working, but they had no products to lift in some depots due to the refusal of oil marketers to import fuel over non-payment of their subsidy claims.
Part of the statement issued by the union reads:  "NUPENG is not responsible for the growing queues in filling stations as it is being speculated. The union is not on strike and the petroleum tanker drivers are ever ready to lift products.
"This is to let the world know why the current shortage of petroleum products is being experienced. The Federal Government boasted a few days ago that it had stock that will last for 45 days. Our members are working, but have no products to lift in some depots, which are empty, as a result of the non-refusal of some oil marketers to import fuel due to non-payment of their claims”