Fuel supply situation in Lagos got worse yesterday with more filling stations closing shop to business. There were long queues that caused traffic jam at the few ones that solid product.
Some motorists who spoke to newsmen said they had to leave their private vehicles behind and commuted to their offices and business premises in public transport.
Apart from the distribution constraints being experienced as a result of the Arepo fire incident which affected a major supply line, the fuel scarcity situation, it was learnt, is made worse by the refusal of oil marketers to resume importation because the Federal Government owes them N200 billion in unpaid subsidy that accrued from fuel imported since last year under the Petroleum Subsidy Fund (PSF) scheme.
Our correspondent also gathered that members of the various oil marketing groups including the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), and Jetties and Petroleum Tank Farms Owners of Nigeria (JEPTFON) have refused to import in fuel despite the truce it reached with the Federal Government last month after they threatened to go on strike over non-payment of their outstanding subsidy debt.
The oil marketers said the government owed them N200 billion since last year, which is threatening their business and forcing them to cut down their workforce. The group had last month given the government seven days to pay up or face nationwide strike. The government quickly entered into dialogue with them and made a part payment of about N42 billion but it was gathered that government’s efforts didn’t pacify them and they continued to boycott importation.
Executive Secretary of JEPTFON Enoch Kanawa, told The Nation that it doesn’t make sense to continue importing and doing business at a loss. He said business is currently so bad that some member-companies are working on their human resources to see how to reduce their workforce. He said interest on loans from banks continue to pile up, payment of staff is becoming very challenging as well as maintenance of the depots.
The oil marketing groups said they control 90 per cent of functional facilities and market share of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry and the loans they got from banks attract interest charge of N3.7 billion per month.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in a statement said it has taken measures to end the scarcity being witnessed in Lagos and some parts of the country.
The Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Corporation, Mr. Fidel Pepple, said the fuel shortage is due to the shutdown of system 2b, a major pipeline that evacuates between nine to eleven million litres of fuel from Lagos to Ibadan, Ilorin and the north due to serious vandalism by oil thieves a couple of weeks ago.
Pepple said to alleviate the problems resulting from the shutdown of the pipeline, the NNPC has stepped up distribution through tankers. “As I speak, we have raised the daily supply of fuel from Folawiyo tank farm from 150 tankers to 250 tankers, MRS from 100 to 200 tankers, Capital Oil up to 300 tankers, NIPCO up to 70 tankers and AITEO up to 100 tankers.”
He noted that fuel delivery and supply to Port Harcourt, Aba and Calabar has also been augmented saying that bridging to the North has equally enjoyed robust supply adding that as at lastThursday, the NNPC had 32 days sufficiency of petroleum products. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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