Despite the ultimatum to fuel marketers to end the perennial scarcity in the country, the situation seem not to be improving as the lingering fuel scarcity is biting harder in Kebbi crippling socio-economic activities.
According to reports, only few filling stations were dispensing petrol to motorists at exorbitant prices.
The Department of State Services (DSS) had on 9th December given the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and other stakeholders in the oil sector 48- hours to resolve the current fuel crisis.
The DSS warned that it would go after operators that continue the federal government’s effort to make fuel available to Nigerians.
According to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the trip round some filling stations in Birnin Kebbi revealed that revealed that few stations that open for business sold their at between N280 and N300 per litre.
The Chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Kebbi Central Motorpark (Sabuwar Tasha), Birnin Kebbi, Alhaji Garba Dan-Malam, said the situation had become worrisome.
Dan-Malam, who expressed optimism that the government would bring the situation under control, said the scarcity, which had been lingering for a while had negatively affected his members.
He observed that the fuel scarcity and hike in its price had crippled soci-economic activities of Nigerians, noting that for commercial activities to take place, people, goods and services must move from one place to another.
The chairman said despite the increase in fuel price, transport fares charged by members of the union were reasonable.
He, however, lamented that members of the union were not happy with the current situation.
“As leaders, we keep advising our members to be patient; things will be better. This is because we have hope in the present administration.
“As motorists, we are not only concerned with high cost of fuel but also high costs of vehicle spare parts.
“A typical example is, just last year, we used to buy a tyre from N27,000 to N28,500 but now it goes for between N59,000 and N61,000.
“However, for those travelling outside the country will bear witness that the current inflation is not restricted to Nigeria. It is a global trend that engulped economies across the globe,” he advised.
In view of the hike, “We advised our members engaged in long journeys not to use all the passengers’ money to purchase fuel, instead, they should break it into three.
“So that in the event of vehicle breakdown, they can have some money on them to get another vehicle for the passengers to carry on with their journey.”
On his part, a motorist, Malam Aliyu Yusuf, lamented that the hike in fuel price had affected his monthly budget, saying that he had to cut down some expenses of less value to meet his fuel needs.
“Apart from cutting down some of my expenses, I also minimised my movement, I go to my place of work which is obligatory upon me but as far as visits are concerned, I visit places that are extremely necessary and important.
“My brother runs a business centre and he uses petrol to power his generating sets but the hike in fuel forced him to review some of his charges.
“However, it it’s not everybody that understands, he bitterly complained about low patronage.
“The experience is actually terrible, buying fuel at the rate of N290 to N300, this is unacceptable; government needs to do something urgently to address the situation for the good of Nigerians as well as the nation,” he said.
When contacted, the Chairman, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), North-West Zone, Alhaji Muhammad Tila, blamed the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (NNPCL) for the lingering problem.
He said NNPCL was the only company responsible for importing fuel into the country, saying that many drivers used to spend seven to eight days on queues to lift the commodity to the north.
“The frustration is too much, sometimes they end up waiting in vein. As such, the last option is to buy the commodity from major marketers at exhorbitant price of N250 per liter, transport it to the North at the cost of N30 per liter.
“When we bring it here, we cannot sell it at N280, therefore, people should reason with us,” he noted.
The chairman recalled that the Department of Security Services (DSS) gave the statekeholders in the petroleum idustry 48 hours ultamatum, yet, the fuel was not available, especially in the north.
Tila said before Nigeria used to have 10 to 20 ships on the sea waiting to offload, “but now you hardly see two ships on the shores of Nigerian sea.”
He stressed the need for government to allow private registered depots to import the commodity.
Meanwhile, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN), Aba Depot Unit, has said that massive importation of fuel is the only solution to the lingering fuel crisis.
The Executive Chairman of the unit, Mazi Oliver Okolo, who stated this after a meeting with the Abia State Commissioner for Petroleum, Chief Sam Nwanganga at the weekend, admitted that the available fuel was insufficient to serve Nigerians.
“We are not expecting anything unless there is a quick intervention where they will give us direct allocations and we can load the product and truck it out. They can bring in more vessels and naturally, the fuel situation would disappear”, Okolo said.
“All of us are worried. We are suffering. We told the government our predicament, that we cannot get the allocation directly, and that we are pleading with them to see if they can help us talk to NNPC top management to give us our direct allocation because we have a contract with them.
“We are their marketers. We are supposed to have a direct allocation from them which they are not giving us. Rather, they are compelling us to go and buy the product from the tank farms and those tank farms are filling those products at a very high cost.
“A recent payment was N225 per litre in Port Harcourt. Concerning the cost of transport and other logistics, the landing cost will probably be at about N235 per litre and we may be selling at N245 or thereabout. This is a reasonable margin.
“We have agreed with the Commissioner for Petroleum and his team that they will help us to see if we can get this product directly from the government and let everybody monitor it back to our stations, and that we will sell products at the normal price which the government has approved.”
