• Major marketers to distribute 300 million litres nationwide
• NANS plans nationwide protest, calls for resignation of Kyari, Adelabu
• Private distributors sell to us at N900 per litre – IPMAN
• CUPP, HURIWA knock NNPC over scarcity
• Gombe black marketers sell at N1,600, prices hit N1,030 in Kano, N900 in Osun, Benue

The House of Representatives, at the resumption of plenary yesterday, summoned the Minister of Petroleum Resources and all relevant stakeholders to explain the current fuel scarcity and attendant pains nationwide.

The lawmakers, however, did not specify which of the ministers they summoned – be it President Bola Tinubu who also doubles as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, or other two junior ministers.

Recall that the president had split the Ministry of Petroleum Resources with the appointment of Ekperipe Ekpo as Minister of State, Gas Resources; and Heineken Lokpobiri as Minister of State, Petroleum Resources.

With two ministers of state in the sector, following the tradition of his predecessor, the president had kept the position of the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources to himself.

The House expressed concern over the lingering fuel scarcity accompanied by excessive increase in retail price of PMS in filling stations nationwide, which it said has no doubt occasioned additional hardship on citizens.

The summon was issued just as the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria (MEMAN) said it had concluded plans to take delivery of eight vessels containing over 300 million litres of fuel to address the current shortage.

Chairman of MEMAN, Huub Stokman, disclosed this during a press conference to address the current fuel scarcity nationwide. Stokman, who empathised with Nigerians over the frustration and difficulty they are experiencing, said the priority of the major marketers and other stakeholders in the supply chain is to restore stability and ensure fuel supply.

Fuel queues have lingered since last week with the situation taking a turn for the worse at the weekend as motorists spend hours at filling stations.

The Chief Executive Officer, Clement Isong, expressed hopes that with the increased volume and the association extending their loading times at depots, there would be a reduction in queue in Lagos before the end of the week.

“We are also hopeful that the Dangote refinery will come upstream soon and will provide an alternative source. I think once the dollar stabilises and we are sure of where it stands with prices, people will have the choice of buying either from NNPC or from Dangote. It is that multiplicity of choices that guarantees the competition and the best services that will get to the market,” he said.

However, since the scarcity of petrol began, private depots have been selling petrol to independent marketers for N890-900 per litre, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) disclosed yesterday.

The marketers hinted that in the last eight months, they have been unable to lift PMS from the NNPCL depot as they have been buying from the private depots at exorbitant rate.

The Unit Chairman of Gombe Depot, Habibi Mohammed, while speaking in Abuja, said a private depot in Lagos sold to them at N890 per litre and then by the time they include transportation and other landing costs, they were forced to adjust the pump price.

“At times, when the NNPCL promise to give us the product, we make payment, but we can’t access it. Now, we have over 3,000 tickets with NNPCL but we can’t access the product.”

On why NNPCL is selling to the private sector at N550 per litre and they are selling at N890 per litre, he stressed the need for the government to investigate the trend .

In a related development, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) said it would mobilise students to embark on a nationwide protest following the current situation in which citizens are contending with the twin problems of epileptic power supply and scarcity of petrol.

The body, in a statement endorsed by its Senate President, Akinteye Afeez, and zonal coordinators, said the situation in the country is becoming unbearable.

“In response to the dire circumstances inflicted upon Nigerian students by the ongoing fuel scarcity and electricity crisis, we are mobilising for a nationwide protest. Our primary objective is to demand the removal of key officials whom we hold accountable for exacerbating these issues.”

The association listed roads where its members would converge to include Abuja Junction along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway, Airport Road in Abuja, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Onitsha-Asaba Head Bridge and Wuntin Dada along the Bauchi-Jos Road.

IT was gathered that activities of ‘black marketers’ have raised the fuel price to N1,600 per litre around Tumfure axis along the Gombe-Bauchi expressway, Gome State. A litre of fuel currently sells across the state at N1,000 in a few operating filling stations.

Danladi Bakam stated that life has become unbearable with the new rate, adding “Cost of fuel now is N1000, while black marketers are charging N1,600.”

Mohammed Mohammed, who operates commercial motorcycles said: “We are trying to make the money from our customers. We are suffering and, unfortunately, we buy fuel at N1,400 because we can’t stay in long queues at the filling station.”

The fuel scarcity in the Kano metropolis got worse yesterday as independent petroleum marketers jacked up their prices to N1,030 per litre. Few stations dispensing the product sold at between N980 and N1,030 with long queues, populated by commercial vehicles and tricycles. The growing concern has started taking its toll on social economic and corporate services in the ancient city.

For instance, the situation has eased the high volume of vehicular moment on major highways as many owners already abandoned their cars while several spend nights at fueling stations. The worsening situation is forcing students and workers to trek long distances as some spend hours waiting endlessly for commercial vehicles.

It was the same situation in Osun State as many residents, who could not afford the exorbitant transport fares being charged by few transporters plying the roads, took to trekking to get to their destinations. Motorists have also abandoned their vehicles because of the scarcity of petrol and the high cost of fuel as many roads, which used to be busy, have been left desolate.

At some of the petrol stations visited on Tuesday, fuel was sold above N750 per litre. The fuel scarcity has necessitated extreme black-market prices, with a litre of fuel selling as high as N2,000 in Osogbo.

This has necessitated a call for the closure of schools across Nigeria by a civil society organisation, The Osun Masterminds, over worsening fuel scarcity in the country. It described the inability of Nigerians to purchase fuel easily as meaningless, saying Nigerians have been facing one of the toughest experiences in the country.

The group made the call at a press conference addressed by its Executive Director, Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, in Osogbo, who said: “Nigerians are facing one of the toughest experiences of their lives. Students have had to return home, unable to get to their respective schools due to a shortage of public transportation. The economy is getting crippled by the day as workers and informal sector operators are also unable to get to their places of work.

“We recommend the shutting down of schools maybe for a few weeks while this scarcity lasts to avoid the children and their parents suffering unduly.

“In the midst of all of these, the power situation in recent times has been the worst Nigerians have experienced in recent history. Yet, the government has not made any clear statements about the worsening situations across the power and petroleum industries. This is grossly irresponsible.”

In Benue State, the cost of fuel rose from N750 on Monday to N900 yesterday, while the black market price for a litre was N1,000 statewide.
THE Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has hit at the authorities in the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and NNPCL over their inability to live up to the promise of ensuring an adequate supply of fuel to Nigerians.

CUPP’s National Secretary, Peter Ameh, in a statement wondered why the nation’s refineries have not been functional.

CUPP said it rejected the excuse of logistical problems adduced by the authorities as the cause of the present scarcity as nothing but a smokescreen.

“The present APC government, through its utterances and actions, has not shown any fidelity to Nigerians. The Petroleum Ministry headed by President Tinubu has been spewing out lies regarding the health of the local refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna,” it noted.

“Early in the administration of President Tinubu, the so-called full deregulation of petrol led to the escalation of pump price. With the over 300 per cent increase, Nigerians thought that the product would be obtained with ease, not minding the exorbitant rate, they accepted their fate with philosophical equanimity without any iota of fuss, but what have they gotten in return? Suffering, runway inflation, insecurity, abject poverty and depression. Nigerians are back to ground zero.”

Similarly, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has described the NNPCL hierarchy as incompetent for leaving Nigerians at the mercy of roadside fuel hawkers. The group’s position followed NNPCL’s assurance that the ongoing fuel scarcity and queues would be cleared out by today, May 1.