Lagos Fuel Stations Close Down, Queues Continue In Abuja

Several fuel stations closed down on Monday, as a result, there were queues by motorists in some  few outlets that dispensed Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, in Abuja, neighboring states, and also in some parts of Lagos.

At the moment, marketers of PMS were still uncertain about moves to prevent petrol subsidy, considering the fact that the government had projected in 2021 that it would put an end to the subsidy regime in February this year.

At the same time, it was gathered that some members of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners had stopped operations in protest against the low freight rate for petrol which they receive from government.

The National President, NARTO, Yusuf Othman on Monday said that “our people have parked their trucks and more people are going to park (theirs).”

The National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, also mentioned that the fear over subsidy withdrawal had been in the minds of both private depot owners and some retailers, which has led to product shortage at filling stations.

“I’ve explained to you that DPOs are studying the situation around subsidy, since the government has been making various statements on this matter and this has its way of affecting the market,” he said.

Queues for petrol in filling stations have been on and off in Abuja and neighboring states in the past few weeks, as marketers disclosed that aside from panic buying by motorists, there have been disruptions in PMS supply.

Ukadike further said, “They (government) said they want to fully deregulate. That statement and similar ones which some ministers made that by 2022 we are going to start full deregulation, made some PDOs decide to hoard or withhold their products.

“They (PDOs) are doing this to be able to match up with the cost of petrol when it rises above N300/litre upon full deregulation. Now, this became a bottleneck in terms of the chain of demand and supply.

“So people who were taking petroleum products out of Lagos from the PDOs stopped a little bit to be able to look at the market value and their cost of logistics.

“That was what put a gap in the chain of distribution that led to the appearing and disappearing queues in many parts of Abuja and the north, as well as in some other locations of Nigeria.”

On the other hand, NNPC released a circular which reads; “The NNPC Limited wishes to assure the public that the company has sufficient PMS stock to meet the needs of Nigerians.

“The public is therefore, advised not to engage in panic buying of petrol; and to ignore all rumours that may suggest otherwise.”