LONG queues at Lagos filling stations may take some time to disappear, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) hinted yesterday.
The corporation’s acting spokesman, Mr Fidel Pepple, said the scarcity, which he described as “artificial”, was triggered by the destruction of the NNPC’s pipeline at Arepo, Ogun State.
Lagos was enjoying regular fuel supply until last week when bunkerers attacked the pipeline in Ibafo, Ogun State, to scoop fuel.
Pepple said the NNPC was finding it difficult to fix the damaged facility following the killing of three officials by hoodlums. The officials were going to repair the vandalised pipeline when they were attacked.
According to Pepple, the development has forced the corporation to bridge products by truck as against the pipeline.
He said: “The NNPC is bridging products from Atlas Cove, Satellite and Apapa depots to Ibadan, Kwara and other Southwest states. But it is a little difficult to bridge as much as 11 million litres of fuel per day through trucks, which ordinarily is easily done through pipelines. There is no reported hitch in that intervention.
“Besides, the repairs of the vandalised pipeline may take some time as the corporation would not risk the lives of its workers in a bid to fix a pipeline, until their safety is guaranteed.”
The corporation had in a statement confirmed the killing of three of its after suspected oil pipeline hackers opened fire on a team of engineers and technicians of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), deployed to repair the vandalised products pipeline in Arepo Village in Obafemi/Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Pepple said the corporation would not dare a repeat of such calamity, adding that the intervention through bridging by trucks would continue unhindered until the pipeline is repaired.
There were long queues in many filling stations that dispensed Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in Lagos yesterday, signalling scarcity.
Motorists were apprehensive that the fuel scarcity that affected some states and Abuja, might have finally crept into Lagos.
Some motorists bought fuel in containers as reserves in case the situation escalates.
Attendants took advantage of the rush to make quick money by collecting between N100 and N200 from consumers.
At some of the filling stations visited by our correspondent, the product was sold at the normal pump price of N97 per litre; other stations did not sell.
At a filling station at Onipanu on Ikorodu Road, pump attendants demanded the payment of N200 before selling.
It was also gathered that in some areas, such as Ikorodu, Ikotun and Apapa, the filling stations sold at N100 per litre .
The NNPC, however, advised residents against panic buying. It said there was enough fuel to go round. Pepple said the corporation had 30 days sufficiency and that if there is scarcity in Lagos, it must be artificial scarcity.
Motorists were taken aback by the sudden development.
At a fuel station in Ojota, a litre was sold for N140. Those who intended to buy in containers paid N150 per litre.
A motorist, who gave his name as Tony, lamented: “Can this country ever get anything right for once? This is an issue that we started the year with. Nine months after, we still have not made any headway. This is a country where people feel they can plunge the country into a state of emergency for their own selfish reasons. At the end of the day, it’s the masses who suffer it.”
Others alleged the sudden scarcity could be a ploy to shoot up the price of the product.
“Some unscrupulous marketers are definitely not comfortable with the way Nigerians drive in with ease and buy fuel at the approved prices. They would rather create artificial scarcity to shoot up the price,” Saheed Bamidele said.
Source:The Nation