By BIMBOLA OYESOLA
Respite seems not to be in sight for Nigerians on the current fuel scarcity that has crippled economic activities in Lagos and other parts of the country. For the past two weeks, residents of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states have suffered the pains of fuel shortage, which purportedly occurred due to vandalisation of a 2B pipeline and the murder of three staffers of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Arepo, Ogun State.
A couple of weeks ago, petroleum pipelines in Arepo were destroyed by some vandals, who harassed journalists and killed three PPMC officials who went to repair the damaged pipeline. The fuel shortage has taken a heavy toll on the citizenry across the country, particularly in the northern and western parts, leading to long queues at few stations with petrol to sell.
Transport have increased cost of public transportation, while price of petrol in the black marketers have increased to N200 per litre. However, the masses are bearing the brunt of the scarcity with calm, for now. The damaged NNPC system 2B, pumps about 11 million litres of fuel per day, which is about one-third of the national daily consumption from Atlas Cove offshore depot in Lagos, to Satellite depot in Ejigbo, Lagos; Mosimi, Ogun State; Ibadan, Oyo State; Ore in Ondo State, Ilorin in Kwara State and some parts of the North.
The crisis, which started in Abuja last month, has spread like wildfire to other parts of the country and major cities, especially Lagos, where fuel queues have now led to traffic gridlocks all over the nation’s commercial nerve centre. Only very few filling stations in Lagos and neighbouring states have petrol and most sell only diesel, while a few also sell kerosene. The few that have fuel now sell at N120 per litre against the official price of N97. Investigation showed that marketers and depot owners, who load trucks on 24-hour basis, now barely work for 10 hours a day.
According to the marketers, the trend will continue unless there is adequate fuel to match the demand. NNPC Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Fidel Pepple, said last week that the shortage in Lagos and other parts of the country was due to vandalisation of Arepo pipelines, adding that the NNPC had taken measures to end the current scarcity. He further said the NNPC had stepped up distribution through tankers.
“As I speak, we have raised daily supply of fuel from Folawiyo tank farm from 150 to 250 tankers, MRS from 100 to 200, Capital Oil to 300 tankers, NIPCO to 70 and AITEO to 100 tankers,” Mr. Pepple said, adding that fuel supply to Port Harcourt, Aba, and Calabar has also been increased. Though Mr. Pepple said the NNPC had 32 days sufficiency and is currently collaborating with security agencies to fix the pipeline and restore normal supply to affected areas, organized labour in the petroleum sector said government was not sincere to Nigerians on the magnitude of the problem. According to National President of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Gas workers (NUPENG), Comrade Igwe Achese, the crisis may linger until government addressed major challenges in the downstream sector.
“The trend will continue until government shows responsibility and act in the interest of the people,” he said. The NUPENG boss said the problem was beyond damaged pipelines, adding that, “The pipeline in question is NNPC pipeline for product coming in through NNPC. Product coming in from there cannot sustain the country; it is only one channel to Mosimi, Ejigbo and not for the marketers, who are no more importing, and those doing so are selling at exorbitant prices.”
He said the solution is for government to call stakeholders’ meeting of all marketers to address the issue, noting that government should not hesitate to prosecute fraudulent marketers. Achese lamented that Nigerians would have been spared this hardship had the Federal Government listened to NUPENG. “We are happy that Nigerians are now seeing and experiencing this. It started in Abuja, and now is all over the country, and NUPENG is not on strike.
“The real problem is that we completely depend on importation, as none of our refineries is producing anything now. But such can be corrected if the government can make our refineries work. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria ((PENGASSAN) likewise confirmed that the fuel crisis goes beyond pipeline vandalisation in Arepo or anywhere in the country. “The inability of government to provide security for the pipelines and failure to pay marketers, have snowballed into this crisis shrouded in uncertainty.
“Though we are not saying government should condone corruption, neither are we in support of corruption, but we believe government should settle genuine marketers,” the union said. PENGASSAN charged government to speed up work on the refineries as such would boost fuel supply in the country.
when will it ever end?
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Badluck sorry i mean Goodluck, abeg what is happening. Have we not agreed to buy at N97 you approved? Abeg why this torture? And why now?
I dont know how long Nigerians will be shrouded up in mystery over the issue of fuel. Corruption has so much been infused into our systems that we cannot but breed corruption. Government on the other hand is doing nothing to curb this cancerous practice in other not to offend the “big and mighty”. This is because the plight of the common man can never be thier lot. They dont queue for fuel,they dont queue for kerosine,they dont know what is power outage, now tell me how can they be bothered of what you face on a daily basis? Government must rise up and be commited to the yearnings of the citizenry,enough of sit and look.
Whether its vandals, government or PENGASSAN, the story has always been thesame. The simple fact is that we should do the right thing where we find ourselves and our country will be better for it!. We should know that after death comes judgement for all things are vanity. What shall it profit a man to gain the world and loose his soul? GOD FORBID!
Am feed up with the situation of this country and i believe very soon revolution will take it full course.May God forgive our useless leaders.
To avoid fuel scarcity getting worse soon, I think NNPC should put adequate measure in place.
I hope Oga GEJ an d minister of Petroleum resources madam Allison Madueke reads this piece. What are these politicians doing with our money? Can’t the refineries be repaired or new ones built? We have the resources to do that. What about the license for private refineries, abi the issue has been swept under carpet as usual? Is it only to share the national cake among themselves? God’s judgement is coming soon, they should remember how MKO, Abacha and co stockpiled wealth only for other people to enjoy it. For confirmation ask Abdusallam Abubakar how he inherited Abacha’s loot and how MKO’s children fought over their father’s wealth. Nigerian looters, remember the day of reckoning is at hand!!!
WITHOUT PATRIOTIC COLLABORATION OF NUPENG & PENGASSAN CAN THE REFINERIES WORK???CAN FUEL SUPPLY IMPROVE??THEY ARE NOT PATRIOTIC.
Nigerians are trying sef, who knows, that would be the style Governmnet has put in place to abondone fuel important and make it an open import thing, whereby you import, sell at your own price and no one will ever challenge you………. I know their leadership style
The government doesnot care a damn and inshort, have gone to sleep and have no business with Nigerians.Anybody who is tired of the country can travel out.The refineries will not work because the government does not want it to work,Even if government wants it to work,sabotages wont want,some notable Nigerias wont want it to work.
Hmm…. Supply and demand…. Simple economics, but all that will only work and make sense in a fully deregulated petroleum sector. Government and its agencies are absolutely unlikely producers nor businessmen. As for the petrolueum unions asking for the refineries to work, I hope not with the government throwing money again into these money sinks. The unions should stop taking gratification from unscrupulous Nigerians to trumpet their falsehoods. What we need is full deregulation, removal of subsidy….. a la communications(GSM), airlines and ports. Simple as ABC
Hi journalists, can you just stop reportage on fuel scarcity. Every time this type of gloomy story is dished out, even those petrol stations selling previously, simply close shop the next morning.
Spare us those kind of stories please, if you must report, tell us something positive. When you reported that 18 ships laden with petrol were waiting to be discharged at Lagos ports, most filling stations started dispensing fuel the next day.
Call it propaganda or whatever you wish, it works!
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No, they are trying. Imaging country like Nig. has no working refinery. WOO! to our shameless leaders.