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Fuel shortage will get worse – Marketers

By BusinessNews Staff on February 22, 2014

The current scarcity of petrol at filling stations across the country will worsen in the coming weeks because the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency has failed to release the import allocation to oil marketing and trading companies for the first quarter of this year.

The PUNCH had on Wednesday reported long queues of desperate motorists looking for petrol in some parts of Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo states on Tuesday.

Queues were also noticed at some locations in Abuja on Tuesday and Wednesday.

It was learnt that some remote villages across the country were already enduring severe fuel shortage as marketers preferred sending the limited stock available to them to cities.

The Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, told our correspondent in Abuja on Thursday that even if the PPPRA should release the import allocation now, it would take about four weeks for the marketers to bring the product into the country.

“The best thing to do is to release the first quarter allocation. However, it is late now because it will take a minimum of three to four weeks to clear all the necessary papers needed before oil marketers can import products. That is the seriousness of the situation,” he said.

Olawore advised the authorities involved in the release of import allocation to always treat the issue seriously, adding that “the quarterly allocation must be released before the end of the previous quarter.”

On what could happen if the PPPRA failed to release the petrol import allocation early, he said, “I understand that there are some villages that are selling at N120 per litre of petrol now. And if this continues, the cities, after some time, will also be dry.

“That is when you media people see it. This thing you are talking about in the remote areas has been felt since last week. So, it is better for it not to happen.”

The executive secretary explained that queues were not much before now because the marketers were selling their old stock.

He dismissed the allegations by the PPPRA that the marketers were blackmailing the Federal Government.

Olawore said, “What I am saying is this: We don’t have allocation; therefore, we cannot import. Because we have not imported, our stock has dried up; and because our stock has dried up, there is no product to sell.

“So, you draw your conclusion; and if the PPPRA man said it is blackmail, then you should tell him that story and let him show you where the blackmail is situated in this scenario that I have painted.”

When contacted on Thursday, Mr. Lanre Oladele of the Corporate Services Department of the PPPRA told our correspondent that he was not in Abuja and would not be able to comment on the development.

Similarly, the General Manager, Operations, PPPRA, Mr. Victor Shidok, did not answer calls put across to his mobile telephone number, nor reply a text message sent to the number.

[Punch]

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