Owing to the persistent scarcity of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol, nationwide, the Executive Secretary, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), Mr. Olufemi Adewole, on Monday urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to increase its supply to the marketers.
He admitted that the corporation was giving fuel to marketers, stressing that if there were queues anywhere it meant that the supply was insufficient and that NNPC should increase it.
Asked to give an update on the petrol market in view of the unending queues in the country, he told The Nation on phone that “I really don’t have an update about happenings in the last few days now.
“But I read in the news too. I came into Abuja this morning and I have seen one or two places that have fuel. To the best of my knowledge NNPC is giving marketers fuel. If there are queues it simply means they should give marketers more.”
Speaking on phone, the National Vice President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Abubakar Maigadi attributed the queues to panic buying.
He recalled that the scarcity started since last month and it was not easy for it to disappear from the whole country immediately.
According to him, “there has been improvement in terms of loading and supply of product. In Niger State there are queues but they are not long.”
The NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, who was also called for a reaction to the persisting scarcity did not receive his call at press time.
The fuel scarcity and its resultant queues that engulfed the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) seemed to have aggravated yesterday.
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Most of the independent marketer apart from the Nipco petrol stations in Kubwa, Lugbe Airport road were under lock and key. Some major marketers as Total in Zone 6, Wuse District however sold the product.
The NNPC affiliate stations that sold petrol yesterday were besieged by endless queues. The worst hit was the on the mega station on Kubwa expressway; and the one on Olusegun Obasanjo way, which both recorded long queues.
At the Nipco on Airport road, it was discovered that the station pegged its maximum sale per vehicle at N3,000 per liter.
Although the stations did not alter the prices from a maximum of N145 per, black marketers took advantage of the scarcity to sell petrol in jerrycans on the expressways. They sold theirs for about N200 per litre.
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