Fuel Scarcity to Worsen as FG Abandons Talks with Marketers

Emmanuel Thomas, Lagos

[wysija_form id=”1″]May 13, 2015 – There are indications that the current fuel scarcity will bite harder between now and weeks to come based on revelation by critical stakeholders.

Executive Secretary Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria(MOMAN), Mr. Obafemi Olawore, who was cornered after a stakeholders’ meeting in Ikeja, confirmed that no Federal Government official was talking to them on how to settle the debt, a situation he said was frustrating their business.

“As we speak nobody from the government is talking to us.” He also faulted claim by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that there was fuel enough for local consumption, saying “let the NNPC point to a depot where it has enough fuel. Truth is there is no fuel to lift,” he said.

He said the FG owes them a balance of N200 billion for oil subsidy. Commissioner for Transportation, Comrade Kayode Opeifa who chaired the meeting said information available to government shows that there is currently now fuel at Apapa depot and therefore there was no need for tanker drivers to continue to queue for a product that was not available.

He gave them 48 hours ultimatum to leave Lagos pending when the product would be available.

He said the law enforcement agencies – police, Federal Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) would start with persuasion and would only begin to towing the trucks and arresting recalcitrant drivers with effect from Sunday.

At the meeting were representatives of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Ibru Oganisation, Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Owners (NUPENG) Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Apapa local government, the Lagos State task force among others.

This is happening even as petrol currently sells between N100 and N150 in Lagos with major marketers having preference for jerrycans and hoarding the product.