LONG queues of motorists have resurfaced at filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kano and Katsina State following perceived scarcity of petrol in the country.
In Kano State, only a few petrol stations along Murtala Muhammad Way were sighted selling fuel, other stations in the metropolis were under lock and key.
Youths who are taking advantage of the situation are selling fuel in jerry cans between N200-N300 per litre.
Meanwhile, most petroleum marketers in Katsina State closed down their filling stations when the news of fuel scarcity began to spread on Monday morning.
A commercial bus driver, Malam Garba, whom Tribune Online met at Tayoyi Mega Filling Station in Rafindadi, said: “I am heading to Kaduna with these passengers you are seeing, but I had to wait to fill my tank because I don’t know the situation I may meet there.”
Another motorist said: “I’m just trying to avoid being caught unawares. You know how this country is. I saw queues in most filling stations, and I decided to have a full tank.”
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Malam Danladi, the manager at the fuel station, however, debunked rumours of fuel scarcity.
Danladi added: “If we have fuel, we sell and if there is none, we close.”
Similarly, fuel queues also resurfaced in Abuja as many petrol stations in the city were not dispensing fuel, possibly due to hoarding or lack of the product.
A trip around Kuje Area Council on Monday morning revealed that none of the petrol stations visited was seen dispensing fuel to buyers.
It was not certain if they had no product to sell at the time of the visit as none of the attendants was willing to speak to our reporter.
A motorist told this reporter that he purchased a litre of fuel at N185 in Kuje on Sunday.
However, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) in a statement described the situation as “mild fuel queues in Abuja” likely “due to low loadouts at depots which usually happen during long public holidays, in this case, the Sallah celebrations.”
The NNPC also stressed that “another contributing factor to the sudden appearances of queues is the increased fuel purchases which are also usual with returning residents of the FCT from the public holidays.”
The NNPC Limited assured all residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and indeed all Nigerians, that “we have ample local supplies and national stock in excess of 2.5 billion litres, with a sufficiency of more than 43 days.”
It advised motorists not to engage in panic buying as supplies are adequate as will become increasingly evident in the coming days.
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