The current scarcity of petrol in many parts of the country may persist for the next three weeks, our correspondents have gathered.
Many motorists spent most part of
Saturday and Sunday in queues at the few filling stations that had the
product to sell in Lagos and Ogun states, as well as the Federal Capital
Territory, with fears that the situation might degenerate in the coming
days.
The Chairman, South-West chapter,
Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Mr. Tokunbo Korodo,
who spoke with one of our correspondents on Sunday, said that most of
the depots in the country were already empty, adding that the available
product could not meet the national demand, hence the queues.
He, however, said the situation would
take about three to four weeks to ease considering the fact that
marketers only received the import allocation for the first quarter last
week.
Korodo, said, “There was a delay in the
approval of import allocation to the marketers. The import allocation
was given last week and you know everything has a due process. The
marketers will have to contact their banks, order for the product, and
ship the product to Nigeria. As such, it will take three to four weeks
for the product to get to the Nigerian soil.
“Had it been that the government was
proactive enough to give approval to them in time, we will not be in
this situation; and now, we should be thinking about the approval for
the second quarter because this is March already.”
He also spoke on the way forward,
saying, “If the NNPC can release whatever they have in their own stock
to all the marketers that have facilities to distribute and dispense,
the scarcity will be quenched. We all know that the NNPC’s ability to
distribute petroleum products is being hampered as a result of vandalism
of pipelines.
“Therefore, it is distributing through
some private facilities, but it has preference in releasing products to
the marketers. But if the NNPC can release the products it has in its
stock to all the marketers, this ugly situation will be quickly
arrested. But if it continues to give preference to some marketers, the
situation will continue to escalate.”
The Petroleum Products Pricing
Regulatory Agency released the import allocation for the first quarter
last week, but expert said it came after the product stocked by most
marketers had already dried up.
The Executive Secretary, Major Oil
Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, had warned of an
impending scarcity if the import allocation was not released in time,
stressing it would not augur well for the country if the major
marketers’ stocks were allowed to dry up.
“There will be fuel scarcity in the
country if the major marketers’ supply is not replenished because we
account for 60 per cent of the national product demand across the
country,” he had said.
The Chairman, Depot and Petroleum
Products Marketers Association, Mr. Dapo Abiodun, had similarly warned
that the left over from the fourth quarter of 2013 and the Pipelines and
Product Marketing Company supplies would dry up soon.
“This is why queues building up. There is a shortage of supply in the system,” he said.
Abiodun also estimated that it would take some time for the marketers to bring in new products.
Source: Punch
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