As the current fuel scarcity
which is causing untold hardship to Nigerians lingers, most citizens look up to God amidst contradictory rhetorics from appropriate quarters and ask: when will this seemingly unending suffering come to pass?
In the word of Mrs Dema Ogba, a director of NEDAL Oil Company Limited, “before this present down-turn, one good credit to the present administration led by President Goodluck Jonathan, which the critics of his administration could not take away from him, is his ability to win the battle against scarcity of fuel which had been the albatross of past administrations.” The director who expressed regret at the ugly situation urged the oil marketers, the government and other major stakeholders in the sector to expedite actions towards restoring normalcy.
In Abuja, Kano, Sokoto, Lagos, Enugu and even down to Port Harcourt, the oil city, the story remains the same: That long queues have remained unabated at the filling stations selling fuel, thereby forcing innocent Nigerians towards the black market where the price of a litre of fuel has jumped from the official pump price of N97 to N200.
The harsh situation, Chief Akpangbo Christopher noted, “has drawn out the worst from some unpatriotic Nigerians who are taking undue advantage to hike price, hoard the product and the next stage now would be to start mixing solutions with little fuel for money, and you know the resultant danger; explosion.
From Okehi, the Etche Local Government Council headquarters, to Mile III Park in Port Harcourt that used to cost N300.00 commercial drivers now charge N350.00 and above. From Mile III Park to Lagos Bus Stop that normally takes N50.00 is now going for N100.00 and such fare increase is noticeable in many other routes across the country.
Market women who bear the brunt of increased fare told The Tide that they have no option than to increase prices of their commodities to meet the situation and make profit.
Mr Yusuf Adedayo, a commercial driver in Ibadan said I have been queuing for fuel since 9.00am and only got fuel at 2.00pm at N120 per litre. How can I make profit when I charge the same fare?
Udochukwu Nnadi, a black marketer, however is happy with the scarcity. “It is good business because many people who can’t buy from the petrol stations have no option than to patronise us. I sell at N200 per litre and when I observe that you belong to the top class, I sell at N250.00 per litre.” Nnadi disclosed that he has made real money within the past two weeks and prays that the scarcity should last longer.”
The black marketer also said they work together with the filling station attendants such that they always have supply since they also benefit from the deal.
Irked by the unpatriotic activities of some marketers who resorted to adjustment of metres and hoarding of products, the Rivers State Commissioner for Energy, Hon. Okey Amadi sealed two filling stations belonging to Oando and Conoil.
Amadi explained that normal supply still comes from the refinery and private tank farms and blamed the situation on dubious marketers who were worsening the situation by hoarding, selling above official pump price and tampering with their metres.
The commissioner advised residents of the state against panic-buying and stressed the inherent danger in hoarding petrol in our homes.
“If you hoard petrol in your homes so that you will make more money in a period of anticipated high price, the danger is that the product can cause fire outbreak that also goes with loss of lives and property.”
The cause of the scarcity is shrouded in secrecy as there has not been a clear explanation so far.
It was widely suspected that National Union of Petroleum and National Gas Workers (NUPENG) was behind the scarcity. But authorities of NUPENG quickly cleared the case last week when the union said it has no hand in the scarcity.
NUPENG said it has a case with some oil multinationals over quota and casual workers and was picketing the multinationals.
However, Comrade Godwin Eruba, chairman of NUPENG in the South-South Zone suspected that the scarcity could be as a result of the federal government not renewing licensing issues with the marketers, hence they could not import the product as at when due.
Eruba had pleaded with the government authorities to expedite actions so that the licence controversy could be resolved and petrol imported into the country to enable Nigerians get enough for their use.
Reports also said that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) had attributed the current fuel scarcity across the country to the non-renewal of contracts of some independent marketers to import the product.
According to a source, the Zonal Operational Controller of DPR in Abuja, Mr Aliyu Halidu, who represents his director at the budget defence session before the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), the non-payment of subsidy fund to the marketers by the government had also hindered the importation of product, resulting in shortage in supply.
Halidu was reported to have urged the lawmakers to expedite action on the process of legislating on bunkering, in addition to resuscitating other laws which could facilitate elimination of illegal bunkering from the system.
He also urged the Senate to expedite action on the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to help strengthen the DPR’s regulatory powers, according to the report.
But surprisingly, DPR authorities came up with a refutal denying claims that it attributed the current fuel scarcity to delays in the signing of contract for importation of petroleum products.
A statement issued by the Zonal Operational Controller, Mr Aliyu Halidu in Abuja office of DPR said that the agency did not discuss any issue of contract signing or illegal bunkering during the budget defence before the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream).
“The issue of renewal of contracts for the importation of petroleum was never discussed during the budget defence before the committee because we are not in the position to say that.”
The issue is not whether DPR authorities chose to swallow their vomit when the heat from above came up, or not, but that acute fuel shortage hit the nation and DPR should advance a convincing reason if actually they should earn their monthly pay.
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPRA) said the reappearance of long queues at filling stations across the country is artificial and uncalled for.
The PPRA spokesperson, Mr Lanre Oladele told newsmen in Abuja that there was no basis for the scarcity currently being experienced adding that there was enough stock to keep the country going for days and 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 particularly described the claim that the scarcity was due to the delay in the release of import allocation to marketers as false and unfounded and stressed that the last allocation was enough to sustain the market till when the next allocation would be released.
But to some Nigerians, the allegations and contradictory rhetorics do not solve the nation’s practical challenges. Mrs Nkiru Emecheta, a student of the University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt advised that “stakeholders should still continue to hide their secrets but find solutions to the embarrassing petroleum scarcity which they know to be real.”
There have been calls for transparency in the nation’s oil sector where most of the activities are shrouded in official secrecy.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its concluding statement of the 2014 Articles IV Consultative Discussion of February 21, 2014, urged Nigeria not only to strengthen transparency and governance of its oil sector but also to advance policies that could focus on rebuilding external and fiscal buffers.
IMF forecast that the nation’s economic growth will accelerate this year to 7.3 per cent, motivated by sectors outside oil and energy industry which accounts for more than 90 per cent of the nation’s revenue.
Respite appears to have come as the federal government a couple of days ago announced that enough products have been imported into the country giving assurance that before the last weekend, there would be petrol across the nation.
But PENGASSAN industrial relations office dismissed the federal government assurances, saying even if there is fuel in all the depots across the nation, it will still take about more than two weeks to get the product to the filling stations in different parts of Nigeria.
“I’ve not seen the situation normalising before two weeks because if today there is fuel in all the depots, before they start loading and start distributing and off loading at all filling stations, I think it will take about two weeks.
PENGASSAN attributed the scarcity to delay in supply and urged Nigerians to avoid panic-buying because of its attendant dangers.

NNPC Mega Station in Abuja.

Chris Oluoh