BY VINCENT UJUMADU
SINCE the return of fuel scarcity in Nigeria resulting in long queues in the last two weeks, most  private petrol stations in some parts of Anambra State that have not been getting regular patronage over the years because they are not used to selling at the official pump prize of N97 per litre, have suddenly bounced back into big business.

The first few days of the fuel scarcity in the state was a nightmare to motorists as there was no single petrol station selling fuel.

Expectedly, few days later, most of the obscure filling stations started opening for business and were selling at prizes raging from N125 to N150 per litre. In fact, some stations that had not sold petrol for the past one year suddenly had fuel to sell.

And trust the people of Anambra State who are always ready to adapt to any changing situation, they easily played into the hands of the fuel dealers and were buying at any available rate. That was why there has not been any queue in filling stations in the state, except when the NNPC mega station started selling again on Tuesday this week.

Since the fuel scarcity began, some people from other neighbouring states have been coming with large quantities of jerry cans to buy fuel in Anambra State to sell at higher prizes in their states.

A fuel dealer who spoke on condition of anonymity told Saturday Vanguard that the reason why Anambra State has not witnessed hardship during the scarcity was because dealers in the state were prepared to buy since they knew that the people would buy at any prize. According to him, the sources of supply during the period of scarcity were usually unconventional and only hard line dealers were prepared to buy at the rate.

He said, for instance, that the reason the fuel scarcity was acute in states like Rivers and Lagos was because the dealers were afraid that they might not easily sell at the rate they bought and therefore did not bother to lift fuel during this period.

He said: “We are lucky here in Anambra State because whatever prize we buy, we can still sell because our people are ready to buy. It is not like that in some states that insist that fuel must be sold at N97 per liter and that is why vehicles are virtually off the road in those states and where there is fuel, the queue is usually long.”

There are however indications that high prize of fuel in Anambra State may soon give way to the normal prize of N97 per liter as many tankers were seen midweek discharging fuel in many NNPC mega stations in Awka, and Onitsha.

Already, some of the stations that were selling above N130 per liter have come down to N120 per liter and hopefully by next week, the prize will return to normal.