The current nationwide scarcity of refined petroleum products has reached a crisis point with a litre of petrol selling for between N200 and N600 in many parts of the country, while other petroleum products such as diesel and kerosene have also become elusive, The Punch reports.
Also, with power generation dropping to an all-time low of 1,327 megawatts, most Nigerian households are now living without electricity as they have also run out of fuel to power their generators. The situation has also started affecting companies with some firms like MTN and Airtel saying that they could not get diesel to run generators at their base stations.
Petrol has dried up in almost all the filling stations nationwide, while black marketers have capitalised on the prevailing scarcity by selling the product in jerry cans for between N200 and N600 per litre in places like Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Kaduna and Oyo states, as well as the Federal Capital Territory.
The Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Thomas Olawore, said though the marketers had reached out to the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, on the lingering fuel supply problems, they had yet to get a positive response. He confirmed that the marketers were not importing petrol at the moment, because they did not have the wherewithal to do so.
The spokesperson for the Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Saidu Muhammed, said the product scarcity was primarily due to the ongoing workers’ strike in the NNPC. He said, “Products are not coming out from the depots and there’s virtually nothing anybody can do for now. But hopefully, when they resolve the strike, things may become normal.
Source: Punchng
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