Panic as petrol queues surface in Abuja

Queues for petrol have surfaced in Abuja as bad road networks on the Abuja-Lokoja expressway disrupted the supply of products to the northern part of the country.

TheCable witnessed long queues on Wednesday at fuel stations along Lugbe, central business district (CBD) and airport road.

An industry source who prefers anonymity said bad road networks caused the scarcity as tankers take longer hours to deliver fuel at stations.

“Some trucks got stuck because of the road situation, and the other trucks carrying products could not pass,” the source said. 

Another source told TheCable that the traffic on the Abuja-Lokoja road caused scarcity, and “Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) had to use the Calabar road to supply northern states.

Speaking with Daily Sun, Abubakar Maigandi vice-president of Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN), blamed the queues on the scarcity of petrol at depots owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). 

He said the development forced private depot owners to jack up the price from N148 per litre to between N170 and 175 per litre.

Maigandi also attributed the situation to bad roads, saying it was one of the factors discouraging oil marketers from loading products at Lagos depots. 

He said it takes several days to transport the commodity to Abuja and the northern parts of the country.

“The increase in depot price of petrol by private depot owners was noticed last week. We didn’t get at NNPC depots, and the private ones said the product is scarce,” he said. 

TheCable has reached out to Garba Deen Muhammad, spokesperson, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, for comment.