Fuel Scarcity Lingers in Abuja

Chineme Okafor in Abuja

The scarcity of petrol in service stations within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja and its environs which the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Sunday said would begin to ease off in 48 hours has lingered with a lot of stations remaining shut or still with long vehicular queues.

This is just as petrol marketers under the aegis of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) exonerated themselves from the current fuel crisis across the country, stating that they presently do not have fuel in their depots and tank farms nationwide.

THISDAY observed from its monitoring of the situation in the city that not much has changed since the NNPC assured Nigerians that it was on top of the situation, and visible changes should be expected by Nigerians within two days. The NNPC also assured Nigerians on Sunday that at most, the country would see the end of the situation before the week ends.

NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, had said at a press briefing that President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered security agencies in the country to tackle instances of petrol diversion and hoarding by marketers, and that with such presidential directives, the NNPC was sure of curtailing the scarcity.

“With the drive and the load-out we are doing, if we get full compliance on diversion and hoarding, we don’t see it going beyond the next two days. However, you know there is always a time-lag, but we will continue to put all the efforts to see that this does not go beyond the end of this week,” Baru had said.

Details later…