Fuel Scarcity Looms as Oil Marketers Shut Down Stations Ahead of Planned Nationwide Protest
Fuel Queues Resurface as Oil Marketers Shut Down Stations Ahead of Planned Nationwide Protest.
ABUJA, NIGERIA – Oil marketers in Abuja and neighboring states of Niger, Nasarawa, and Kogi have shut down their filling stations, leading to widespread fuel queues. This development rears its head as growing concerns over a planned nationwide protest against hardship scheduled for August 1st heighten.
The ones that include those owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, all stopped dispensing fuel to consumers beginning from Friday in Abuja. This scene repeated itself in parts of Niger and Nasarawa states. Long queues have been recorded particularly at the AYM Shafa Station in Dei-Dei and the NNPC station in Zuba, Niger State.
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Many filling stations were reported to have been locked in Lagos, a development which many feared was a pointer to imminent scarcity of the products. Most of the stations were not dispensing fuel, while the few who managed to do so sold at exorbitant prices at N800 per liter.
The queue at filling stations in Ogun State was unbearable as the situation deteriorated. The road was flanked with vehicles, from motorcycles to cars and buses, haphazardly parked in respect of fuel. The motorists groaned in discomfort. One such commercial bus driver, who was traveling to Ibadan, said after he had spent over an hour of his life in this queue, thus: “I didn’t expect that sort of long queue. My passengers are complaining, but there’s nothing I can do.”.
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Some marketers attributed the closures to the unavailability of fuel, while others blamed the apprehension over the planned protest. According to Mohammed Shuaibu, the Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, although some stations might have closed because of unavailability of the product, others took preventive measures due to the fear of the protest.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, enjoins restraint and appeals to Nigerians not to participate in the planned protest.
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Fast forward, and a grim atmosphere is developing: widespread disruption and panic among the populace. One can feel just how fractious fuel availability and distribution have been in this country. And with each ticking minute toward the protest date, the nation holds its breath, in expectation of a solution that does indeed ease hardship and reinstate life as usual.
