THERE were mixed reactions, on Tuesday, by motorists about the availability of petrol in fuel filling stations in the country.
While the scarcity of premium motor spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol, witnessed in the country last week has subsided in some states, the scarcity still persisted in some.
Reports coming in from Lagos and Oyo states indicated that the scarcity of the product had abated, while it still persists in Abuja, Bauchi and Kwara states.
Fuel supply has also significantly improved in some parts of Lagos State.
Many petrol stations were shut due to lack of products while the few ones selling were having fewer queues when compared with what happened on Christmas Eve and on Christmas day.
Oando, Mobil, Conoil, and Total filling stations situated along Maryland axis were dispensing fuel to motorists but the queues were not long.
A few filling stations like MRS, Heyden and Conoil along Lagos-Abeokuta highway were dispensing to motorists.
NNPC retail station situated at Omole was also dispensing with fewer queues while Total and Oando filling stations were also dispensing to motorists along Oregun axis.
Queue still persists in Abuja
In Abuja, fuel scarcity still persisted but fuel was being dispensed to motorists at Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) mega station in Central Area, Kubwa road; Oando in both zone one and Kardo; NIPCO at Jabi, Kardo and on airport road with long queues.
In some of the petrol stations also visited by the Nigerian Tribune within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, especially in Area 10 and11, only Total around Force Headquarters was seeing attending to customers with the long queue, while others did not open as a result of the scarcity of the product.
Long queues disappear in Oyo
Gradually, queues at filling stations in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Tuesday, started disappearing, as few stations which sell petrol now sell at N200 per litre.
Although there is no announcement to that effect, it seems the last week scarcity has temporarily jacked up the pump price to N200 per litre at the moment.
Nigerian Tribune recalled that towards the tail end of last week, pump price went as far as N200 per litre while those who maintained the official pump price had hectic time selling to motorists as a result of long queues.
Some filling stations around Iwo-road Bestway area and Ojoo-UI axis sold to motorists at N200 per litre on Tuesday.
One of the motorists who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune said: “I parked my car for three days since Friday night because I don’t want to buy from the black market. But today, I manage to get fuel from the station, though at N200 per litre.”
Meanwhile, commercial bus and taxi operators in the town have also reduced fares.
The reduction was between 20 and 30 per cent as against what was observed last week.
Orderliness, chaotic situations at filing stations
A mixture of some orderliness and pockets of chaotic situations were noticed in many petrol stations in the Ibadan metropolis.
While the impatient nature of some motorists and commercial motorcycle riders were responsible for some chaotic and unruly scenarios in some stations, there was a seeming orderliness in some stations especially along the Ife-Ibadan highway.
For instance, at LSDEJ Oil Station at Adegbayi, Ibadan, there was orderliness as the station manager, Adeboye Ademola Lawrence, controlled sharp practices noticed in some other stations.
Fuel situation worsens in Bauchi
The fuel situation in Bauchi State has worsened as the product was not available in the state.
No single filling station has the product to sell to motorists as of Tuesday evening.
The commodity is not readily available at all the AYM Shafa filling stations as well as the NNPC Mega stations within Bauchi metropolis, a development that subjected users to series of hardship.
Some of the motorists who spoke lamented that the situation had affected their business as they had to spend hours on the queue waiting for the commodity.
Ishaya Muda who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune said that he had spent over 24 hours on the queue waiting for the commodity at one of the filling stations, a development he said had made him to lose important appointments.
At all the motor parks within Bauchi metropolis, few commuter vehicles were seen as most of them had gone looking for petrol at the filling stations that were dispensing at unofficial prices of between N220 and N300 per litre while a four-litre gallon from the road side black marketers sell for between N1,100 and N1,300.
Scarcity persists in Kwara
In Ilorin metropolis, the Kwara State capital and some other parts of the state including Offa, Ajase Ipo, Omu Aran, Omupo and Idofian, vehicular queues that had hitherto not been in existence, due to long days of fuel scarcity, have resurfaced.
Nigerian Tribune, on Tuesday, gathered that the scarcity still persisted in most parts of the state, as many filling stations owned by major and independent oil marketers were closed for business.
It was gathered on Tuesday afternoon that queues resurfaced at some few filling stations owned by the independent marketers in the Ilorin metropolis, particularly, when petroleum trucks arrived the filling stations.
Motorists and other fuel users had continued to find it difficult to buy fuel in Ilorin as fuel scarcity in the town worsened.
The scarcity had also affected socioeconomic life in the town as transport fare was increased by commercial transport operators while prices of some commodities soared.
Scarcity paralyses fun at National Theatre in Lagos
The National Theatre Complex in Iganmu, Lagos, was on Tuesday devoid of the usual Boxing Day buzzing activities as only few fun seekers were at the monument.
NAN reported that there was little to suggest that Boxing Day was taking place in the premises as the usual carnival-like atmosphere was absent.
Patronage was low for restaurant and kiosk owners as they waited on end for customers.
NSCDC deploys personnel to filling stations in Enugu
In Enugu State, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has deployed 2,000 personnel to filling stations to maintain law and order, as motorists and motorcyclists struggle to buy petrol.
The corps commandant in the state, Mr Steve Amoga, made this disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu, on Tuesday.
Amoga said the corps personnel were deployed to NNPC mega filling stations and major marketers’ filling stations that sell fuel at the pump price of N145 but had to contend with long queues.
“What we have decided to do is to ensure deployment of our personnel to filling stations with long queues in order to ensure that the lines keep flowing.
“Troublemakers are checked from distorting the queues and causing hardship for law-abiding citizens, who have decided to follow the queues diligently,” he said.
Amoga said that the operation’s mandate only covered orderliness in the filling stations.
DPR, NNPC, NSCDC clamp down on filling station selling at N250
A joint task force made up of officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Nigeria Security Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Joint Task Force on Sunday clamped down on a filling station in Kubwa, Abuja, for selling at N250.
Upon the discovery, the combined patrol team led by Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru, subsequently dispensed all petrol at the filling station to motorists for free.
Stating that the monitoring exercise was to uncover illegal and unlicensed filling stations, Baru remarked that the fuel situation had continued to improve over the past days.
He further assured that going by efforts of the NNPC, adequate fuel distribution and supply across the nation would be restored in the next few days.
The joint task force is billed to continue its monitoring operations on Wednesday.
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