As more filling stations remained closed yesterday, commuters and drivers in Lagos and other Southwest states may face more difficulties.
In the few stations with supplies, car lines became longer, while bus stops were crowded with desolate commuters by the thousands.
Transport costs tripled, as was expected, on the majority of routes. When they couldn’t pay, many travelers turned to trekking.
The official pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, is N165 at stations run by big dealers and N175/180 by independent marketers in the states of Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo.
The Western Zone of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) attributed the occurrence on a shortage of fuel at NNPCL facilities. Additionally, private depots raised their pricing to N178 per litre from N145.
According to IPMAN, it would be nearly impossible for its members to keep their prices at N175/180 per litre.
However, the most recent data on fuel availability from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) revealed that the country had 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.”
A Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN) representative, who wished to remain unidentified, attributed the shortage on an inadequate product allocation from the NNPCL.
According to sources, it has been difficult for even NNPCL franchise filling stations to lift gasoline for the past five days.
The station manager of a NNPCL filling station in Ogun State said that he had been unable to obtain gasoline for his station for five days.
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.”.
