NNPCL not supplying us, say oil marketers as fuel scarcity hits states
Oil marketers are pointing fingers at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL) for the recent shortage of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, which has led to a fuel scarcity hitting states across the country.
The President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Billy Gillis-Harry, raised concerns about the supply challenge from NNPC during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief breakfast programme, as reported by News Point Nigeria.
The fuel scarcity has disrupted economic activities in various states, with long queues forming at filling stations nationwide as Nigerians struggle to find petrol.
While some fortunate motorists managed to purchase fuel at prices ranging from N700 to N1,200 per litre after enduring lengthy waits, others faced closed stations citing supply issues.
The scarcity also prompted black marketers to sell petrol at exorbitant prices, reaching as high as N2,000 per litre in some states.
As a result, traffic congestion intensified in cities like Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Sokoto, and Kano, with long queues stretching onto main roads, causing delays and leaving commuters stranded at bus stops with inflated transportation fares.
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Despite NNPC retail outlets selling petrol at N568 per litre in Lagos, many motorists found it challenging to endure the extended queues and fierce competition lasting up to six hours at a time, with some independent oil marketers forced to keep their outlets closed during this period.
Last Thursday, NNPC spokesman, Olufemi Soneye, said the “tightness in the supply of Premium Motor Spirit currently being experienced in some areas across the country is as a result of logistics issues and that they have been resolved”.
The NNPC also said the prices of petroleum products won’t change and urged Nigerians to avoid panic buying as there is a sufficiency of products in the country.
However, PETROAN boss, Billy Gillis-Harry, said the supply challenge has not been resolved though he acknowledged efforts by NNPC to solve the problem.
Gillis-Harry said, “NNPC has its own outlets that they also serve. So if they have some logistics issues, that will possibly be what is internal to NNPC. But as for us, PETROAN members, we can tell Nigerians for real that if we have petroleum products delivered to us, supply to us upon payment for those same products, we will supply to Nigerians.
“I would like to correct Nigerians that we retail outlet owners or marketers as they generally call all of us is the reason for this. We do not have any reason not to serve the public and we are willing to serve the public. All that is required is for us to have petroleum products delivered to us from NNPC and we will make sure that our retail outlets are open, some of them are even open for 24 hours.
“The challenge of logistics is only relevant to the NNPC retail outlets.”
