Fuel scarcity hits Lagos, Abuja, as IPMAN shuts operations

Fuel queues returned to major cities of Lagos, Abuja and Ogun on Monday, forcing motorists to spend hours at filling stations.

Many filling stations were also not selling the product in suspected case of hoarding.

Meanwhile, Mr. Akin Akinrinade, chairman IPMAN Lagos satellite depot, has disclosed that the association shut down operations due to what he described as unfavorable working environment.

He said after payment for products to be lifted from Ejigbo depot since October last year, no lifting has taken place.

According to him, at government depot, they buy at N118 per litre plus N20 handling charge, but they are compelled to buy from private depot’s, which have been increasing price.

“Today we buy at N162 per litre plus N18 handling charge, totalling N180 per litre. Nobody does business this way. Our money has been tied down for over six months and we still buying at high price. Even our subsidy payment is not regular. We have to survive,” he said in an interview.

On Monday, there were also queues in states bordering the FCT, including Nasarawa and Niger.

In the Federal Capital Territory, there were long queues at various filling stations such as the NNPC, Mobil, A.A. Rano, AYA Ashafa, Enyo, among others.

Hundreds of motorists besieged the few filling stations that dispensed petrol at various states, spending hours on queues in a bid to buy PMS.

Oil marketers blamed the development on the drop in supply, stating that the demand for petrol was currently higher than what was being provided by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

Also speaking on the development, the President, Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, PETROAN, Billy Gillis-Harry, said, “Lagos is having queues today, Kaduna is almost not having any PMS in its retail outlets.

“So, it is simply a situation of demand overwhelming supply. The supply process is not efficient to be able to meet the demands for products.”