commuters

Motorists and commuters have lamented that the persisting fuel scarcity has caused long queues resulting in a hike in transport fares in Lagos and other parts of the country.

The fuel scarcity has caused long-drawn gridlocks around fuel stations in the state as motorists queue for hours to fill up their tanks with petrol at the few stations dispensing products.

PUNCH Metro reports that long queues have been building up at several petrol stations in Lagos since Friday and haven’t ceased.

One of our correspondents gathered that on Monday a few petrol stations that dispensed PMS sold it between N618/litre and N800/litre depending on the area of purchase, and due to this, there had been an increase in transport cost.

A bus driver, who simply identified himself as Mr Adeniyi, who spoke to one of our correspondents at the Ogba Bustop, Ikeja lamented the struggle to get fuel and justified the fare hike, which had increased from N300 to N400 from Ogba to Ikeja Underbridge.

“The increase in transport cost is not our fault. We sleep at petrol stations just because we want to buy fuel and do our business. Things are hard, and people should understand it is not our fault,” he said.

A commuter, Miss Anne Ono, complained about the increase in fares and expressed her dissatisfaction.

“It is affecting everyone, not only drivers. It is honestly tiring, you come out every day and the fare has changed. It has either increased or it is fluctuating,” she told PUNCH Metro.

A minibus driver plying the Ketu to Ikeja route in Lagos also lamented the increase in fuel price saying this had affected his profitability.

“It is affecting us seriously. If the fuel price returns to the previous price, things would be better. When I worked before, from Ketu to Ikeja, I could buy fuel N3,000 to fill up my tank, but now it is N40,000 to fill up my tank. If I take four trips, I won’t make any gains because I would still have to buy more fuel. Now, once I buy fuel, it is as if I did not make any gain, because the money I have left would be small. It is not easy, we are just managing, and there is nothing we can do. It is affecting us,” he lamented.

Our correspondents observed that at several filling stations in Lagos, there were long queues and some of the drivers had been in the queues for hours just to fill up their tanks.

One of the drivers, Mr Emeka, complained about the stress of waiting in the queue.

He said, “It is not easy, we have been here since 11:00 am unless you want to buy from the black market for N1,200 and above or some filling station that sells for N800 or N700, you have to queue. It’s seriously stressful.

Another motorist complained about the situation stating that drivers who weren’t patient in queues at filling stations ended up buying fuel from the black market at a higher rate.

“It is affecting us. Previously, we could buy fuel of N4000 and we worked with hopes to buy fuel at the next filling station after four or five trips. Now, you pay N20,000 to get petrol for the day, and you might not even get passengers after using that amount to buy fuel. We spend more on fuel, some filling stations are selling for N850, and sometimes, you have to look for cheap petrol stations unless you are in a hurry. If you are not, you have to queue. This morning I went to buy PMS at a Mobile filling station in Ikeja.. I had to queue from 4:00 am to 11:00 am, and bought it for N618 per litre, but wasted time that I would have used to make some money to buy fuel. So, it is not easy,” he said.

It was reported on Sunday that black marketers had taken advantage of the situation, selling as high as N1,300 per litre and N1,500 per litre in parts of Lagos and Ogun states.

On Saturday, while reacting to the long queues and scarcity in some parts of the country, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited said the tightness in fuel supply and distribution was caused by a hitch in the discharge operations of a couple of vessels.

“The NNPC Ltd wishes to state that the tightness in fuel supply and distribution witnessed in some parts of Lagos and the FCT is a result of a hitch in the discharge operations of a couple of vessels,” the NNPC Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, said. The company added that it was “Working round the clock with all stakeholders to resolve the situation and restore normalcy in the operations.”