Fuel scarcity bites harder in Abuja, Ondo, Osun, others

There is no succour yet for motorists and other petrol end users despite the Thursday statement by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) that it had resolved the logistic problems that sparked the supply crisis.

Reports from across the country yesterday showed that many filling stations had no fuel to sell.

Some sold over and above the threshold of N650 per litre while motorists and other buyers besieged the few ones that sold within the range of N600 per litre.

While many petrol stations in Lagos sold fuel at the normal price and queues were not noticeable, it was a different story in the industrial town of Ota, Ogun State where some filling stations hiked their pump price to N799 per litre.

In Abuja, over 80% of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) retail outlets shut down their operations yesterday, creating an opportunity for a massive black market around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Although the price remained unchanged at N617 per litre at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) filling stations while major marketers sold it for between N680 and N690 per litre, some independent marketers vended the product for as high as N750 per litre.

Black marketers sold one litre for as much as N1,200 to desperate motorists. Nation