Queues trigger gridlock, cost of transportation rises as fuel scarcity hits Lagos again
Cars have again formed lines across many filing stations in Lagos, in search for fuel, causing gridlock in the state.
The queues have extended into major roads, creating difficulty for other users.
It has been reported that a litre of the petrol is now sold for between N800-N1,000 in some filling stations, resulting in increase in the cost of transportation in the state.
Some filling stations are not selling the product while black marketers have taken advantage of the situation to do brisk business.
The situation is not limited to Lagos, with some states in the northern region, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, experiencing persistent scarcity of the product.
However, in a bid to tackle the situation, the Federal Government through the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) threatened to withdraw licenses of filling stations hoarding fuel.
“NMDPRA embarks on a war against the illegal sale of petroleum products, especially PMS in jerrycans. Filling stations are advised to desist from servicing illegal peddlers; failure to do so would result in the suspension of retail licences,” the agency said in a tweet on its handle.
The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) last month blamed the scarcity of petroleum on a hitch in the discharge operations of a couple of vessels.
“The NNPC Ltd wishes to state that the tightness in fuel supply and distribution witnessed in some parts of Lagos and the FCT is a result of a hitch in the discharge operations of a couple of vessels,” the NNPCL spokesman Olufemi Soneye said.
But he assured Nigerians that the NNPCL is working to resolve the situation.
“Similarly, the development was compounded by consequential flooding of truck routes, which has constrained the movement of PMS from the coastal corridors to the Federal Capital, Abuja,” he said.
