No hope in sight, as fuel scarcity bites harder

The fuel crisis continued in Abuja, yesterday, as motorists continued to find it more difficult to get the product, with some queueing for a minimum of four hours before getting the product to purchase.

The fuel crisis showed no sign of abating, as the queues continued to grow longer while the number of petrol stations with the product continued to decline.

Despite the sufferings, the Federal Government, the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR and the NNPC, seem to have abandoned Nigerians to their fate, as they have kept mute in spite of the worsening situation.

The DPR failed to respond to enquiries on its efforts at alleviating the sufferings faced by Nigerians, while the NNPC had stopped sending its daily update of supply to petrol stations across the country.

In Suleja, most petrol stations were selling fuel to motorists, but the queues were long while motorists accused the filling stations of under-dispensing, claiming that their pumps had been tampered with.

At the Airport Road in Abuja, most of the petrol stations were not opened when Vanguard visited, while the few selling, NNPC and MRS, witnessed large number of vehicles and very long queues.

In Lugbe, only MRS petrol station was selling, while the other petrol stations where shut down, claiming they have ran out of the products to sell.

At the Conoil and Total petrol stations opposite the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, headquarter in Abuja, the queues had gone round about four streets, inhibiting traffic in the process.

At the Forte filling station in Gudu, a long queue was seen, with motorists spending long hours on the queue, while the situation was no different at Yaman petrol stations in Area 3, Garki, Abuja.

In Gwarimpa, most of the petrol stations were shut, including the NNPC station inside Gwarinpa , as the station was shut to motorists.

Along the Abuja – Keffi Expressway, only Forte Oil at Nyanya was selling, while all the NNPC retail outlets around Nyanya were shut down.

Along the Kubwa expressway, the large queues witnessed at the NNPC retail outlets at Katampe and Total filling stations continued and showed no sign of improvement. Some motorists told Vanguard that they have been on the queue for about four hours and called on the Federal Government to do something about the situation.

Due to the worsening scarcity, widespread incidences of sharp practices were recorded in most petrol stations, with rising cases of under-dispensing, hoarding and exploitation.

Also, most petrol stations no longer sell to motorists during the day, as they only sell at night when they feel they could get away with whatever sharp practices they are engaged in. Most of them sell to black market dealers in drum and other large containers at the dead of the night, while during the day, they claim they do not have products to sell.