Following the decision of the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) to extend the steady supply of fuel which has been on-going to the eastern part of the country, more oil trucks have ceased coming to Lagos route in the bid to load products.
The decentralization of storage and distribution service of petrol by the NNPC has ensured adequate supply of fuel at the eastern part of the country and trucks hitherto coming from Owerri, Portharcourt, Enugu and Aba have therefore lowered in number.
These trucks had usually come to Lagos to load fuel from the private depots in Apapa, as well as the NNPC depots at Ejigbo while some of them usually load product at the Mosimi depot in Ogun state.
Shipping Position weekly gathered that the NNPC has now commenced the use of some private depots including major marketers located in portharcourt in order to further make fuel available throughout the eastern region. It was also gathered that a litre of fuel which was formally sold in Aba for 90naira now sell for 65naira.
According to Mr. Ignatius Abah a business man who deals in petroleum products, the recent constant supply has seen oil tankers waiting at filling stations to discharge their content because there is still product in the underground tanks
He said the development is a welcomed one compared to what was obtainable in the past “the state of the roads from Ore down to Lagos is very bad and it has even led to some major loss of human life in the past, it is good now that depot at Porthacourt are now functioning at least the man-hour loss will also be reduced and it will further ease the pressure on Lagos” he said.
He also explained that contrary to the how it used to be, major filling stations now advertise the 65naira price of fuel boldly in front of their stations.
It has also been established that following the Kaduna refinery now in working order dully managed by the Kaduna Refining and Petroleum Company, even though it is not in full capacity, it has been able to help in supplying some of the northern states like Kano and Jos.
An industry stakeholder who spoke with our correspondent in Lagos also explained that the attitude of the indigenes of the eastern states has been the major reason why private depots has refused to move to the area “nobody will like to invest in a place and tomorrow they erase it out, you can only invest your money where you know that the state is economically friendly and you can do your business without any molestation”
According to him “government has not really provided an enabling environment that can attract investors into the region but it is a gradual thing, there orientation will change with time and when it did more people will get attracted to the region and this will further ease the pressure off Lagos route” he explained.
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