The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, said yesterday that the petrol scarcity currently spreading to more states across the country will take at least two weeks to normalise.
This is even as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NPCL insisted yesterday that it has adequate stock of the product.
However, the Public Relations Officer of IPMAN, Chinedu Ukadike, said the product is not available in the country.
He said it has become a bit of a challenge to source the product because most refineries in Europe are undergoing turnaround maintenance.
Ukadike also blamed the acute shortage in supply on importation bottlenecks and the slow pace of marketers’ licence renewal by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA.
He disclosed that only 1,050 marketers out of 15,000 have had their licences renewed by NMDPRA.
He said: “The situation is that there is no product. Once there is a lack of supply or inadequate supply, what you will see is scarcity and queues will emerge at filling stations.
“On the part of NNPCL, which is the sole supplier of petroleum products in Nigeria, they have attributed the challenge to logistics and vessel problems.
“Once there is a breach in the international supply chain, it will have an impact on domestic supply because we depend on imports. I also have it on good authority that most of the refineries in Europe are undergoing turnaround maintenance, so sourcing petroleum products has become a bit difficult.
“NNPC Group CEO has assured us that there will be improvement in the supply chain because their vessels are arriving. Once that is done, normalcy will return. This is because once the 30-day supply sufficiency is disrupted, it takes two to three months to restore it.
“We expect that by next week or so, NNPC should be able to restore supply and with another week, normalcy should return”.
On challenges faced by marketers in renewing their licences, he said: “NNPC has said the marketers who have not been able to renew their licences will not be allowed to remain on their portal which has been shut for some time now. Because of this, we have not been able to request new products.
“At this nascent period of deregulation, you will discover that this leads to scarcity, even when the product arrives. As it is now, even by their data, out of 15,000 marketers that are on the portal with licences, only 1,050 renewed their licences.
“The requirement for renewal by NMDPRA is so much. Marketers are facing a hostile environment. NNPC placed a deadline of April 15, 2024, for marketers to renew their licences.
“We are, therefore, appealing to NNPC to extend this deadline and also to NMDPRA to hasten the release of licences of marketers who have completed their processes, and also reduce bottlenecks around licence renewals”.
However, reacting to the crisis yesterday, Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd, Olufemi Soneye, expressed optimism that the long queues will clear in the coming days, adding that NNPC Ltd has adequate stock.
He stated: “The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, wishes to clarify that the tightness in the supply of Premium Motor Spirit currently being experienced in some areas across the country is a result of logistics issues and they have been resolved.
“It also wishes to reiterate that prices of petroleum products are not changing. It urges Nigerians to avoid panic buying as there are sufficient products in the country.”
Similarly, the Chief Executive Officer/Executive Secretary, Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Clement Isong, said: “As the NNPC Ltd said, there were logistics issues and they have been resolved. The marketers who have fuel, are working round the clock and the queues will be cleared in the coming days.”
However, the shortage of petrol witnessed in Nasarawa, Niger, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, last week, spread to Lagos, Oyo, Osun and other states, weekend, thus affecting the movement of goods and persons and by extension, the nation’s economy.
In Lagos, motorists and other users woke up yesterday to witness long queues at the few filling stations which had the product to sell, while many outlets belonging mostly to independent marketers, without the product, were closed.
However, some major marketers, including 11 Plc and NNPC Ltd, with stocks sold the product at over N600 per litre, while the few independent marketers with the product sold it at between N650 and N700 per litre, depending on location.
Checks by The Tide’s source indicated that many motorists and other users were compelled by circumstances to patronise black market operators who openly sold the product along Ikorodu Road, Isolo and other locations in jerry cans at between N900 and N1,000 per litre.
Further checks indicated that transporters increased fares by 100 per cent to cover the high cost of petrol.
For instance, commuters paid N2,000 from Mile 12 to Mile 2, a distance that used to cost them N1,000, while others paid N1,000 from CMS to Mile 2, which previously cost about N500.
The fuel situation in the ancient city of Kano worsened yesterday as most of the petroleum stations were shut.
Vanguard checks observed long queues in the few filling stations still dispensing the product in the state capital.
It was observed that independent marketers and some major marketers who were seen selling fuel sold it as high as between N850 and N900 per litre.

Experts in the maritime sector have said Nigeria loses $9.2billion annually to foreign shipping lines handling cargo that a national fleet is supposed to handle.
A former Chairman of the National Fleet Implementation Committee, Hassan Bello, who disclosed this, Friday, at the inauguration of the new executives of the Shipowners Association of Nigeria in Lagos, said the national fleet should be an initiative of the private sector.
“$9.2bn lost annually to foreigners. This is trade that goes to foreign-owned shipping companies or carriers. You could imagine what that could do to our economy if we had a national fleet.
“The national fleet should be an initiative of the private sector but the government should encourage it”, Bello said.
Bello, a former Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, stated that all the earnings that were supposed to come to Nigeria now go to foreigners, creating employment for them.
Noting the importance of having indigenous participation in international trade, he said “you know the significance of having indigenous participation in international trade: 90 per cent of international trade is done through the sea, carried by ships from one country to another.
“And we have been missing in action, that’s the whole problem. We need to be elusive, unequivocal, and deliberate in our efforts. That is why it is important for this association. We will see it as one of the efforts to take us out of the dungeons”, he asserted.
The former Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council lamented that Nigeria operated a monoeconomy, wholly dependent on the export of a single commodity, which is crude oil.
“We have to own and operate indigenous tonnage, purely private sector driven by providing incentives that are the function of a government, friendly operating climate, like tax holidays, and a wide range of very important incentives, which other countries have used.
“We have no time to do that. We are talking about tax holidays. We are talking about fiscal policies, legal, and the policy changes”, he stated.
Also, the immediate past President of the SOAN, Dr McGeorge Onyung, expressed disappointment that Nigeria was not capitalising on the $14trillion ocean economy.
Onyung, who is also the Managing Director of Jevkon Oil & Gas, declared that by ferrying equipment and materials needed for the Lagos-Calabar rail line project from China, Nigeria inadvertently enriched Chinese shipowners instead of retaining that freight money within the country.
“The economy of this country would not improve if we don’t diversify into the ocean economy. The fact is very clear that without shipping, there is no shopping. If you don’t remember anything today, please remember that without shipping, there is no shopping.
“Now, we are building a railway from Lagos to Calabar. I don’t know how much that will cost. I don’t know how long it will take. But all the wagons and the rails must come from China, wherever, by sea. And it should be ships that should bring them in. So, we should start making the money before the railway is constructed”, stated.
Meanwhile, the new President of SOAN, Sonny Eja, lamented that poor ship acquisition was affecting the nation’s maritime sector.

A Pan-African commodities player, AFEX, has released its second impact report covering its activities over the past five years.
The company, which launched operations in 2014, has worked with over 500,000 farmers and executed over 1,000,000 MT in trades since inception. Following the publication of its first impact report in 2021, AFEX has doubled down on driving impact through its work in Africa’s commodities markets, positively contributing to SDGs 1,2,5,8, 12 and 13.
The new report features an updated version of the AFEX theory of change, which was released for the first time in 2021, when the first report was published. The company’s work in Climate Action, SDG 13, has also been captured and included within the context of the ToC and the fuller report.
Climate change effects have become increasingly relevant in Africa, with farmers facing record impacts on their activities.
Floods, increased droughts, and fewer rainfalls have threatened farmer productivity, resulting in food insecurity. AFEX is contributing to enabling sustainable climate resilient agriculture for farmers in Africa, which helps increase Africa’s food security while achieving self- sufficiency for the continent.
According to the report, rural poverty in Nigeria is more widespread in 2023 compared to baseline measurement in 2020.
“Over 80 per cent of Nigerian farmers still existed around and below the poverty line compared to 43 per cent of Kenyan farmers existing around and below the poverty line”, the report stated.
AFEX, which has operations across these two countries highlighted its efforts to secure livelihoods, including providing farmers with certified seeds, quality fertiliser, as well as extension and storage services through strategically distributed warehouses.
The group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), AFEX, Ayodeji Balogun, said “our impact goals are essential as we grow our business and expand, as it ensures that we are able to build a commodities market that is as inclusive as it is efficient.
“We look to create a positive difference in the places that we operate, empowering farming communities, fostering economic opportunity and helping Africa sustainably provide for itself”.
According to the President, AFEX Nigeria, Akinyinka Akintunde, “this report marks a significant milestone for AFEX. It serves as a roadmap that guides us towards a more sustainable and responsible future building an efficient marketplace for commodities in Africa.
“We will continue to build a food system for the future and create shared prosperity, ensuring that no one is left behind in the journey to transform the agricultural ecosystem”.
Akintunde continued that comprehensive efforts are required to create sustainable value in the commodities market, particularly as challenges