Fuel Scarcity, Artificial – NNPC …Commercial Drivers Plan Fare Increase In PH

The current fuel scarcity in Rivers State, has been described as artificial and manipulated by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) which allegedly masterminds the hoarding of the product.

Reacting to the development, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) indicated that the product was available and that there was no reason for its scarcity in the state.

An NNPC source in the Public Affairs Department who did not want his name on print said that enough quantity of petroleum products were being daily distributed to Port Harcourt.

According to him, there was no reason for any rush purchases of petroleum products in Port Harcourt.

“Nigeria has for a long time not witnessed any fuel scarcity and the NNPC has been trying to avoid anything like that,” he said.

When The Tide visited some filling stations in Port Harcourt, it was observed that the operators of the stations were hoarding the products in anticipation of fuel subsidy removal.

A car owner, Mr Iheanyichukwu Oliver who spoke to The Tide at the AP Filling Station along Moscow Road in Port Harcourt said, “there is nothing like fuel scarcity. The problem is the proposed removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government and the petroleum marketers are trying to hoard the product.”

Another motorist who was at the filling station to fuel his car, Mr Collins Raphael said from what he had gathered, the situation was caused by the planned removal of fuel subsidy.

A taxi cab driver who pleaded anonymity said, “I see the problem as a seasonal occurrence and a deliberate act to short-change consumers by some fuel marketers or filling station owners.”

Investigation by The Tide showed that most filling stations operators were not willing to sell the product to consumers, thereby creating long queues of cars at the filling stations.

The Tide also gathered that some filling stations had stopped selling the product to customers, whereas kerosene commonly used by the down-trodden as energy source now sells for N145.00 per litre.

Consequently, as the fuel scarcity persists in Port Harcourt and its environs in Rivers State, commercial drivers have threatened to increase their transport fares in order to meet up their running costs.

The Tide in a chat with some drivers gathered that they had resolved to hike transport costs as long as the fuel scarcity persisted.

Emmanuel Nwosu, a transporter, also said the hoarding of petroleum products was not good especially at this Yuletide period. “The scarcity will make drivers to increase transport fares to meet up costs not minding the suffering of the people. It is my suggestion that the state government should set up a taskforce to check this ugly trend at the various filling stations in Port Harcourt and its environs,” he said.

Another transporter, Victor Akpan also said the increase if not checked would definitely bring about fare increase in the state, calling on government to urgently step into the problems.

Mr Olu Babalola, in is contribution said Rivers Sate government should wade into the fuel scarcity before it escalates. “As drivers, we have no option than to increase the fares if the fuel scarcity continues,” he noted.

Efforts to reach the state executive of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to comment on the development proved abortive.

Shedie Okpara &Collins Barasimeye