FUEL SCARCITY: FCT Residents Face Long Queues at Petrol Stations

Oru Leonard 

Private and commercial motorists in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have expressed worry over the long queues being presently experienced due to scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as fuel.

On Wednesday and Thursday long ques were observed at fuel stations in some parts of the city due to scarcity of the product.

In the city centre, long queues were seen at NNPC retail outlets by Zone 2 wuse, NNPC retail outlets after GSM village, TotalEnergies, Wuse, Zone 3, TotalEnergies by Audit House, Conoil and TotalEnergies, opposite the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) Towers and all NNPC Ltd. retail outlets.

Along Kubwa expressway, the NNPC Ltd. retail outlets opposite Salbas, Shema, AA Rano and Salbas fuel stations as well as Evergreen station inside Kubwa had long queues.

However, at area 10 Conoil by PFCID, NNPC first avenue gwarimpa after FCMB bank and NNPC retail outlets Utako/ Wuye were all not selling fuel, as at the time Reporter visited.

Along Airport Road, Rimaco fuel station and NNPC Ltd. retail outlet had long queues as well as stranded passengers.

The independent marketers sell between N680 to N750 per litre, while the NNPC Ltd. retail outlets maintain its pump price of N617 per litre.

Many other outlets were shut as they claimed not to have products to dispense, a development that led to the crowding of the filling stations that dispensed the commodity.

The street black marketers were also seen along the roads and in front of fuel stations making brisk business, selling at N1,000 per litre of fuel.

How they source these gallons of fuel and sell it by the roadside, in front of fuel stations, without being apprehended by the law enforcement agencies is yet another ordeal that cannot be explained.

Some of the motorists expressed sadness at the inconsistency and unavailability of fuel and its associated high price in the country.

According to Mr Shittu Ahmed, who spoke with The Sight News Reporter, “What is most annoying is that with the high cost of fuel sold at N750 and N617 respectively, the product is still scarce to purchase”. “What type of country and government is this? “

A private motorists also at the NNPC retail outlets Zone 2 wuse, complained that he spends more than N80, 000 in purchasing fuel on a weekly basis but makes no gain.

He explained that this had forced many motorists to park their vehicles at home, thereby reducing traffic, while passengers, especially workers, were left stranded daily at various bus stops.

Some of the motorists appealed to the federal government to resolve whatever the issues were so that Nigerians can make good use of their time productively rather than queuing for hours to purchase fuel which they should have at ease.

Meanwhile, an official of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), who spoke under condition of anonymity, said there was no PMS distribution challenge in the FCT.

(Contributions from The Sight News)