By Michael Eboh & Grace Udofia

FOLLOWING the perennial scarcity in Abuja, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and petroleum marketers have called on motorists to avoid panic buying of the commodity.

Speaking in an interview with Vanguard in Abuja, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, attributed the persistent fuel scarcity in Abuja to panic buying due to the elections.

He said, “It is the same old story, the same issue of panic buying. If you noticed, immediately after the presidential elections, the queue disappeared.

Now because we are going for the governorship elections they have gone into the practice again, because people want to travel, they want to have enough fuel to take them to their villages to go and vote for their governors and so on. That is majorly the problem.

He also queried the role played by petroleum marketers in the supply of fuel to the FCT in the last couple of days, saying the NNPC and its subsidiary, the PPMC have been solely responsible for the supply of the products in the last couple of days. He said, “People think that it is only NNPC or PPMC that is responsible for this. This is not so. There are also independent marketers; they also should be asked questions of what is happening.

“Whatever petrol we are using now in the country was supplied by NNPC through PPMC. We should also be asking about the other independent marketers and about what is happening to their supply?” Alegbe, however, called on Nigerians to avoid panic buying, assuring that that there are enough products to meet the demands across the country.

He called on Nigerians to avoid panic buying, assuring that there are enough products to meet demands across the country. Also, a source, who is a member of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketing Association of Nigeria, DAPPMAN, blamed the scarcity on the elections, stating that majority of the depot owners and marketers in the country have enough products to meet demand.

The source said, “I’m not aware that fuel scarcity still persists in Abuja, because I know people are loading and we have products, except that probably people are just slowing down because of the fear of elections and also because people are travelling out of Abuja to their various locations.

“For example if a driver is loading from Lagos to Abuja, and does not discharge, that means he will stay in Abuja until he discharges, this means that he will miss voting which he may not want. This can be a contributory factor to the scarcity in Abuja.”

The scarcity has lasted for over two months despite several meetings and promises ýby the Ministry of Finance, NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, and the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company, PPMC and oil marketers.

Specifically, directly opposite the headquarters of the NNPC in Abuja, long queues of motorists are constantly stationed at the Total and Conoil ýpetrol stations on a daily basis.

ýSome motorists who spoke to Vanguard at the Conoil petrol station, opposite the NNPC headquarters, wondered why the NNPC and the Federal Government is not making effort to address the crisis, which according to them is gradually becoming a constant factor among residents in the FCT.

One of the motorist said he has been on the queue for about an hour and is not yet halfway to the pump. ýMost of the petrol stations in town had run of products, while the few that were selling are besieged by large number of motorists. Petrol stations ýalong the Airport Road had large number of motorists, as well as fuel stations at Wuse, Maitama, Gwarimpa, Kubwa Expressway, Asokoro and Nyanya and a host of others.

In addition, petrol stations are cashing on the scarcity to rip-off motorists. Specifically, when Vanguard visited an MRS petrol station, near SCC Construction, Gwarinpa at the Kubwa Expressway, ýa man claiming to be the owner of the petrol station was in a shouting match with a customer trying to buy fuel.

The petrol station shut its gatesý to motorists, but was busy selling fuel to people with gallons. Later the man claiming to be the owner of the petrol station was seen chasing motorists who were curious as to why the station was shut and yet attendants were selling to people with gallons.

To avoid violence, the motorists had to walk out of the petrol stationý while workers of the station continued to sell fuel to people with gallons. One of the angry motorists claimed that the petrol station is notorious for such practices during situations like this, ýand expressed shock that the authorities are yet to beam their searchlight on the station and mete out the necessary sanctions to the owner.

Another ýmotorist who spoke on the condition of anonymity alleged that the MRS petrol station is well known for manipulating its pump.

“Every time I buy fuel from this station, I observe that I hardly get my money’s worth. Whenever I buy the same amount of fuel from other petrol stations in town, I see a huge difference from the one I bought at this particular MRS station. I wonder why they are manipulating their pump and why the authorities are yet to find them out and sanction them,” the customer alleged.