The scarcity of petrol
continued on Sunday and Monday in Port Harcourt and many cities across the country, as hundreds of motorists thronged the few filling stations that dispensed the product.
This is coming as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) announced that it had constituted special intelligence monitoring teams nationwide to ensure prompt delivery of the product to designated filling stations.
The continued scarcity of the products in the state capital has forced commercial transporters to hike fares by fifty per cent.
Commuters plying Aba Road now pay N100 while some taxis would want to stop at Waterlines instead of continuing the journey to Rumuola which is the main destination.
The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), however, last week said it could not intervene until its resumption from break on April 12.
The queues at filling stations in Port Harcourt and other parts of the country increased despite the long queue of petrol tankers lined up on Abonnema Wharf down to Njemanze and Ikwerre Road waiting to load the product.
A black market dealer of fuel at Abonnema Wharf depot told The Tide that most of the tankers that were loading come from the Northern states.
Many petrol stations in the Port Harcourt Township did not sell the product on Sunday, while the few selling were besieged by desperate motorists. The NNPC Mega Station at Lagos bus stop was also besieged by motorists who queue for the product. The queue however caused heavy traffic within that area throughout the period of the holidays.
Some filling stations outside the state capital sold a liter of petrol for between N150 and N170, which was above the approved prices of N86.50 and N86 for independent/major marketers and the NNPC stations, respectively.
Many motorists and other consumers had to resort to the black market, where the product sold for as much as N200 per litre in some places.
The scarcity and the hike in prices resulted in astronomical rise in fares charged by commercial transport operators.
Meanwhile, the DPR explained the functions of the newly constituted intelligence monitoring teams in a statement from its Abuja zonal office. It said, “The teams would enforce the government approved price regime and ensure the right quantity and quality of products is dispensed.
“Consequently, the department hereby directs all depots with petroleum products to truck out to designated filling stations as programmed while all filling stations in strategic locations shall continue to operate 24 hours during the Easter holidays.”
The DPR stated that the N2m sanction against depots selling products above the regulated price and the N100,000 fine per dispensing pump for filling stations found to be selling above approved rates were still in force.
It said, “Any marketer found to be hoarding will have the products dispensed free to the public and diversion of products will attract a penalty of N200/litre. In addition, the operating licences of offenders will be suspended for a minimum of three months or may be revoked outright, depending on the magnitude of the offence.”