Fuel scarcity caused by shortfall of supply ―DPR explains

GOMBE Field Office of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has explained that the fuel scarcity that has occurred in the state is cause by shortfall of fuel supplies as well as sharp practices by some filing some  stations  and users thereby causing untold hardship to the people who have resorted to staying in long queues for hours in order to get the commodity.

It can be observed that long queues have in the few days reappeared at various filling stations in Gombe metropolis as the fuel scarcity that had eased off recently resurfaced.

Head of Operations of Gombe DPR, Amos Bernard disclosed this while speaking with Journalists during the routine surveillance around Gombe on Tuesday.

He said that Gombe state needs supply of about 4 million liters of fuel on a weekly basis and 300,000 per day to meet the demand stating that last week the state received over 2.5 million liters which made a slight difference in the hardship by motorists.

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Bernard Amos added that since the fuel scarcity began in December last year,  Gombe has been experiencing a shortfall in supplies from the NNPC.

“Supplies fluctuate since December, with most time fuel supplies to Gombe not up to the sufficiency level,” Amos said and equally blamed the incessant fuel scarcity as a result of panic buying by consumers.

“People are following media reports and as soon as they hear there’s fuel scarcity in Abuja or Lagos, they rush to buy in panic even when they have no use for the fuel,” he said.

The DPR official said that sharp practices by some consumers also have the tendency to sustain the fuel scarcity.

“Commercial motorcyclists are now stocking fuel as their business.  Even rachety taxis no longer ply the road but stick to buying mainly fuel in filling stations only to sell it back to black marketers,” Amos said.

On what the DPR is doing to tackle the issue of racketeering at the filling stations,  Amos lamented that there’s no law that allows DPR to sanction those who come to buy fuel at filling stations in order to sell it back.

“No law to arrest such offenders except those with fabricated tanks. Mostly, we arrest and delay such offenders and deterrents,” he explained.

Bernard Amos said the DPR in Gombe is up and doing but that the enormity of the situation calls for a concerted effort by all and sundry to address the lingering fuel scarcity.

He said with improvement in supplies into the state, the long queues in filling stations would disappear and disclosed that officials from the Department sustain constant surveillance on the activities of oil marketers with a view to ensuring they keep to regulations.

A commercial motorcyclist, Abubakar Umaru, seen at the Matrix Filling station located in Tunfure area of the city,  told Premium Times that the fuel scarcity is only peculiar to Gombe metropolis.

“If you go to the outskirts, there is no fuel scarcity. Something is wrong and I want to believe this is the handiwork of some selfish individuals,” he said.