By Michael Eboh & Grace Udofia

Respite seems not to be in sight for motorists in Abuja as the ongoing fuel scarcity in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, worsened yesterday, with motorists spending an average of 12 hours at petrol stations in their quest to purchase the commodity.

Vanguard observed that the Federal Government seems uninterested in the plight of motorists, as authorities in charge of the downstream petroleum sector have kept mute.

The silence of the government and its officials with respect to the fuel crisis, was in contrast to what was obtained in the past, where the Minister of Petroleum Resources and officials of the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and Pipeline and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, would go round the town to enforce the sale of the product, sanctioning defaulting marketers and addressing the problem.

Apart from a less-than-impressive visit by Group Managing Director of NNPC, chief executives of PPPRA, DPR and PPMC, to two filling stations just across from the head office of NNPC, where promises were made to address the crisis, nothing had been heard from the authorities in February.

The prolonged scarcity has also brought in its wake a hike in transport fares, commodities and services in FCT.

In addition, as a result of the hike in transport fares, large crowd of pedestrians were seen at almost all the bus stops in the FCT, as one of the cab drivers told Vanguard that commercial drivers are left with no other option than to hike their fares, having purchase fuel from the black market at a minimum of N200 per litre.

However, a source in PPPRA blamed the scarcity on apprehensions over the elections, stating that with the conclusion of the elections, supply of fuel will increase significantly.

The source who spoke to Vanguard by phone from Abuja, said: “If we spend one day without trucks moving, it is obvious that the supply and distribution of fuel across the country will be affected. Therefore, if the country is shut for one day, of course, they will be a time lag.

“This election was full of scepticism. Anytime there is election, it operates on past antecedents, people are always careful so that they don’t run into a chaotic situation whereby even their lives and their trucks will not be spared.

”Officials of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, told me that Abuja will be wet very soon, because they are moving trucks out now. I’m assuring you that we have enough of product in the system, it is only distribution that is our challenge now and it was because of the festivity and election period which affected it.”

When Vanguard visited Conoil Petrol Station, opposite the headquarters of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, by 12 pm, some of the motorists told Vanguard that they had been on the queue since 5am, and were yet not half way to the point of sale.

Total petrol station, beside the Conoil station, was also selling, with long queues of vehicles stretching across three streets away from the petrol station.

At the NNPC filling station at Katampe, along Kubwa Expressway, the queue of motorists waiting to buy fuel stretched for about a kilometre, same for a number of filling stations along the expressway, such as Total petrol stations, Conoil and the NNPC mega stations on the opposite side of the road.

In Gwarimpa, Airport Road, Central Area, Asokoro, Wuse, Garki, Lugbe, Nyanya and Jabi, among others, it was a chaotic situation in most of the petrol stations, with long queues of vehicles in the few vehicles selling the commodity.

Some motorists claimed they slept at the gate of some of the petrol stations before they were able to get the product to buy few hours after the station opened.

Conoil and NIPCO petrol stations in Jabi, were selling, but motorists in their struggle to buy fuel, caused a long queue that temporarily blocked the expressway, leading to traffic on the major road.

Also, Conoil petrol station at Area 3 was selling, with large crowd of motorists at the entrance and in roads leading to the stations.