Black marketers smile as fuel queues grow
The queues which started building up shortly after the April elections has brought back ugly memories of the acute fuel scarcity period that almost brought the country on its knees. Government aides had attributed the current anomaly to “panic-buying” by motorists. However days on, the situation has degenerated into what energy experts describe as going […]
The queues which started building up shortly after the April elections has brought back ugly memories of the acute fuel scarcity period that almost brought the country on its knees. Government aides had attributed the current anomaly to “panic-buying” by motorists. However days on, the situation has degenerated into what energy experts describe as going back to square one.
The National Association of Road Transport Owners [NARTO], Thursday did not only confirm this worries but also advised Nigerians to brace up for a prolonged and crippling period except something urgently is done by the government to halt the situation. NARTO blamed the current situation on the soaring price of Automated Gasoline Oil otherwise known as diesel. Diesel, which had been deregulated, is only sourced from the international market by marketers at the moment because the refineries in the country are grounded. The body said “the N220 per litre of diesel is too much for us to run our business and break even”. It said the situation is not helped by the failure of the federal government to implement the 45 percent increment it approved sometime past.
However, government said it is intensifying efforts to implement the new freight rate. After the meeting between the Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board (PEF) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), the two agencies determined the funding of the new freight rate for marketers.
Addressing newsmen yesterday in Abuja, the Executive Secretary, PEF, Mrs. Sharon A. Kasali, said any claims from the month of March will be paid with the 45 percent increment.
Kasali revealed that the board has already notified the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) of the approval by the agencies to commence the new payment.
Weekly Trust recalls that for the past eight years, members of NARTO have been asking for a hundred per cent increase in freight rate especially the bridging transportation of petroleum products across the country. The transporters say the review is necessary to enable them take care of their operating costs and to ensure adequate returns on investment.
Experts attributed this scarcity pattern which is biting more in the north to the grounding of Minna, Suleja, Yola, Gombe, Kano, Gusau, Makurdi, llorin and Jos depots.
Some filling stations in Abuja showed that the queues are still present and getting longer.
Rotimi Joseph, a driver with a private company says he had a deadline to beat on goods delivery and he thought coming out early to join the queue for fuel was the best solution but regrettably, it was the worst mistake of his day. “I have been here since 6am and now is 5pm, yet we are still on the line. I had a deadline to deliver goods this afternoon and till now I cannot get fuel. The worst thing is that I cannot even move out because everywhere is blocked and I am trapped in this chaos. Coming to the filling station was my biggest mistake.”
For Everest Okoli, “I came to the filling station at NNPC Wuse around 4am and was there till around 8am when it got to my turn. I decided to take the risk rather than buy black market because if I do, it means I’ll have to double my price for transportation and most of the commuters do not pay. So, I run at a loss. I have ever since then decided to come to the filling stations other than to buy fuel from the black market”
As the long queues persisted at filling stations, prices of the scarce commodity soared beyond the reach of many motorists. Road-side petrol sellers known as black marketers are cashing on the situation to make brisk business. In Abuja, Weekly Trust gathered that a litre of PMS otherwise known as Petrol was sold between N250 to N300 at the black market in Abuja yesterday. The situation has forced most of the residents to stay indoors while others were seen trekking in the morning hours to their various places of work.
Weekly Trust investigations revealed that major oil marketers sell at the approved pump price of N65, but with long unending queues while independent marketers allegedly hoard the products and sell to black marketers at night. It was also alleged that some of the major marketers used the cover of darkness to sell the products to some desperate motorists.
Although N65 was seen on their fuel metres, attendants sold fuel above the stipulated price. Such episodes of fuel shortage always leave civil servants and traders stranded at bus stops across the Federal Capital Territory and environs, and at the mercy of commercial bus drivers and cyclists, who often jerk up their fares by over 100 per cent.
In Kaduna, a four litre gallon of the product which used to cost N400 now sells for N600 naira. A survey conducted by our correspondents showed that the long queue in petrol stations yesterday was longer when compared to early this week.
It was observed that only few stations were supplying the product in the state metropolis even as independent marketers jerked up the price to between 75 to 85 naira per litter.
Speaking to our correspondents, a black marketer on Ahmadu Bello way, Suleiman Musa said they increased the price because they pay more to get the product at fuel stations.
“We pay 1000 naira bribe to get 50 litres at the petrol stations not; that we are happy with situation but we just have to survive under this circumstance. We don’t queue on like motorists because the management benefit from the bribe,” he said.
A motorist, Mr. Nuhu Kuni told Weekly Trust at Total petrol station along Ali Akilu , Kaduna that the situation has drastically affected his job because he spends hours queuing for the product.
“I am supposed to be in my office by now but I am under the sun queuing for fuel, I have been on this queue for over one hour now and the line seems not to be moving. The price still remains N65.00 per litre except for independent marketers who sell at N85.00,’’ he said.
Another motorist, Mr. Bello Yahaya said that due to the long queue in filling stations, he has been buying fuel from black marketers though expensive saying, “if I have to follow the queue, I will not go to work and do other things.” A commuter, Mrs Bukola Daramola who lives at Gonin-Gora said transport fare from her place to central market has increased from N70 to N100 naira. She advised government to act fast because the commuters are always at the receiving end and called on transporters to be considerate in spite of the scarcity of fuel bearing in mind that the scarcity of fuel does not translate into salary increment.
As the hardship continues to bite harder in the ancient city of Kano, the State chapter of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria through its administrative secretary, Alhaji Isiaku Jumana has accused the federal government for deliberately grounding depots in the north to create shortage of the commodity.
Jumana told Weekly Trust through telephone that officials of the NNPC, PPRA and DPR massively sabotaged the supply of fuel. He said it might take a while for enough quantity of the product to circulate to affected cities as “a day’s shortage always takes days to be rectified.”
The Administrative Secretary further said if the situation is not halted, citizens will continue to suffer as the marketers presently purchase fuel from “deregulated markets” and therefore sell at high prices which is at the detriment of the common man.
He also said another reason for the shortage is the hike in diesel price which is sold for over N200 per litre and therefore making supply of the products from Lagos too costly for the marketers.
The State Chairman, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Bashir Bello also blamed the current state of affairs in the energy sector to the post- election violence and hike in price of the diesel.
Also, the Operations Controller, Department of Petroleum Regulation (DPR) in charge of Kano and Jigawa states, Sayyadi Suleiman Abubakar said the scarcity resulted from the break in supply during the elections and Easter festivity periods.
Suleiman said if anyone is to be blamed, it should be the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) saying, majority of them have refused to return to full operations since they halted during the post election violence and therefore causing shortage in supply of both fuel and diesel.