The lingering petrol scarcity in Abuja ad neighbouring states worsened Monday as only a few retail outlets sold to buyers.
But despite the scarcity and queues, which had lingered for several days, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, insisted on Monday that it had enough product to keep the country wet with petrol for about 40 days.
Reacting to the development, oil marketers described the present scarcity was as a tactics deployed by the Federal Government and its agencies in their bid to hike the price of petrol.
This, they said, was due to the rise in global crude oil prices and the increase in foreign exchange rate in Nigeria.
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Many roads with filling stations that dispensed products in various parts of Abuja witnessed severe traffic jam on Monday, as motorists formed long queues on the roads.
The Forte Oil filling station opposite Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, for instance, had long queues that stretched into adjourning roads and caused heavy traffic jam in the area.
Similar scenarios played out along the Kubwa-Zuba Expressway, Airport Road, Zuba-Kaduna Road, Nyanya-Mararaba Road, among others.
Speaking on the development, the National Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, said the current scarcity would lead to hike in price.
He said, “They (government) want people to buy it at a high rate before they will announce an increase in price. When filling stations or black marketers start selling it at around N250/litre, they will then announce a pump price that could be between N180 to N200/litre.
“Then people will now say, oh thank God for we now have patrol no matter the increase in price. It is a market tactics. And it is intentionally done to effect a change in price.”
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Asked if there had been a reduction in product distribution going by the worsening petrol queues, Chinedu replied, “Yes!
“Right now, if I buy petrol at N160/litre in Lagos and I bring it to Abuja, will I sell it at N160/litre? Of course, I won’t.”
He added, “Rather when I bring it in at N160, the price at the pumps after transporting it, that far will be around N180 to N200/litre.
“By this, the independent marketers who help to buffer the pressure on major marketers are gradually being fizzled out of business.”
The IPMAN official stated that the pressure on filling stations in cities had been increasing because outlets in satellite towns were dispensing petrol at very high prices.
Chinedu said, “If you go around the outskirts of Abuja and areas in neighbouring states, people don’t buy petrol again from the small filling stations that used to sell at the approved price in those locations.
“People only buy like two litres from them because petrol price in these filling stations is around N180/litre and so such persons drive to Abuja city and join the queues to buy at N162 or N165/litre.”
He further stated that the stock in fillings station at the outskirts would soon be exhausted and the whole pressure would now be in the cities.
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“Mark my words, the supply in the cities will break down if this is not addressed quickly and there will be total scarcity,” the IPMAN spokesperson stated.
Chinedu noted that the increases in global crude oil prices and the exchange rate were major factors affecting the cost of petrol.
“Can you imagine that the dollar was about N230 to N280 before this government came to power; now it is about N480,” he said.
But the spokesperson of NNPC, Kennie Obateru, said the corporation had not increased the ex-depot price for petrol and had ruled out such hike in March.
