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Fuel Scarcity: RSG Seals Two Filling Stations …As PPPRA, PPMC Warn Against Panic Buying
President Goodluck Jonathan (middle), cutting the tape to inaugurate the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation in Abuja yesterday. With him are Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Sen. Lawan Ahmed (left) and the Auditor-General for the Federation, Mr Samuel Ukura.
The Rivers State Government yesterday sealed off two filling stations, Oando and Conoil, in Eleme Local Government Area of the state for allegedly hoarding petroleum products.
Rivers State Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources, Hon Okey Amadi, who announced this said the filling stations, apart from hoarding petroleum products, were also involved in fraudulent meter adjustment.
Hon Amadi, who expressed disappointment at the attitude of some marketers described the acts as economic sabotage, and warned that any filling station found hoarding products or adjusting their meters would be made to face the full weight of the law.
The commissioner advised members of the public to desist from panic buying and inform his ministry of any station embarking on such illegal practices.
He warned those hoarding and storing petrol in their houses of the consequences.
By hoarding petrol in your house you can cause wide spread fire outbreaks that can take lives and you can never imagine the level of damages to properties’, he said.
He also advised landlords and neighbours to be part of the campaign against storage of petrol in their homes because they might be affected irrespective of whether they are innocent or not.
He restated that normal supplies were coming to the state from the refineries, adding that the supplies from tank farms complement supplies from the refineries.
However, our correspondent who visited some filling stations in Port Harcourt and its environs reported that most filling stations were not selling while long queues were seen in the few ones selling.
From the entrance gate of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology Nkplou, Port Harcourt, to Education Bus Stop on the busy Ikwerre Road only two filling stations (Chindah Oil and Conoil) were selling while the rest were locked up.
Mr Ejike Ozmene, a businessman told The Tide that he spent three hours at a filling station along East-West Road and that at last the fuel got exhausted before it got to his turn.
At Total Filling Station, near Kampala Busstop along Ikwerre Road, a supervisor who identified himself as Mr Service said, “we don’t have product”.
He said virtually all major marketers do not have supply except some independent marketers who are managing to sell”.
At Conoil Filling Station, motorists and petroleum users were scrambling to purchase fuel with queues of vehicles and jerricans stretching to Udi Street.
An attendant who declined to mention his name said, the company paid for the product since 24 January and was only getting product today (yesterday).
The situation was not different at Aba Road, Chidi Nwakanma who was interviewed at Eternite Oil said for over two weeks, they have not got any supply and do not know when the station would get supply.
Chairman of Abali Park branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Chief Bethel Dappa said, “our members now struggle to get fuel and where they get, they pay between N120-N140 per litre.
“It is obvious that if the situation persists, commercial drivers would be forced to increase fares”, he said.
Meanwhile, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) says the reappearance of long queues at filling stations across the country is artificial and uncalled for.
The PPPRA spokesperson, Mr Lanre Oladele, told newsmen yesterday in Abuja that there was no basis for the scarcity currently being experienced.
Oladele said that there was enough stock to keep the country going for days, adding that with the release of allocation of licences to marketers for the first quarter of 2014, there was no reason for the fuel scarcity.
He described claims that the scarcity was due to the delay in the release of import allocation to marketers as false and unfounded.
Oladele said the last allocation was enough to sustain the market till when the next allocation would be released.
He said contrary to insinuations by marketers that their allocations for the third quarter of 2013 expired on December 31, 2013, they actually covered transactions up to January.
Oladele staid that the allocation was usually done in such a way that it would overlap into another quarter, to make provision for any exigency.
According to him, the marketers create the impression that allocation has been delayed for over one month and they engaged in hoarding of the products to create false impression.
He advised Nigerians not to engage in panic buying, adding “what we have is artificial scarcity, we have enough stock to keep the nation wet for days”.
Chris Oluoh
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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