Price Soars, As Fuel Scarcity Hits Borno, Yobe Capitals
From Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri
FUEL scarcity has hit Maiduguri and Damaturu, the capitals of Borno and Yobe states, with a four-litre can of petrol selling at N700, as against N400 before the Christmas.
Black marketers are cashing in on the scarcity to make brisk business, even as a few petrol stations were found selling the product.
The Guardian investigation reveals that the situation is already causing untold hardships on many motorists. Most of the filling stations belonging to major and independent marketers were empty yesterday, as they no fuel to sell.
At the few stations selling the product, the price ranged between N80 and N85 per litre, which is N10-N15 above the official pump price of N70. Roadside fuel hawkers sell at N700 per gallon of four litres.
Long queues were noticed at the filling stations, as motorists spent about hours before being able to buy the product. Others spent the entire night at the few filling stations selling so as to be the first to be served the next morning.
Of the 20 filling stations on Maiduguri-Kano road, only two were seen selling the product, while all the 15 along Kano Motor park road remained closed.
Although the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) mega station was still selling at the official price of N69 per litre, there was a long queue of about 500 vehicles.
The scarcity has already paralysed commercial
activities in the two neighbouring states, as few commercial vehicles ply the major roads.
Although intra and inter -state commercial drivers were yet to hike transport fares, commercial motorcycle operators have jerked up their charges by over 400 per cent.
When The Guardian visited Kano Motor Park, where commercial vehicles depart to various parts of the country, drivers complained of shortage of fuel, which they said was affecting smooth movement of vehicles to convey people traveling for Christmas and New Year celebrations.
Some drivers had parked their vehicles, while others, who could not get enough fuel to travel resorted to plying the local routes.
Some of those interviewed accused marketers of hoarding fuel in anticipation that the Federal Government would increase the price of petroleum products next year. They decried what they described as deliberate plans by the marketers to cause hardship for the people.
A motorist, who was visibly piqued by the scarcity, alleged that the marketers targeted the Yuletide season, which usually witnesses mass movement of passengers to deliberately hoard fuel so as to sell above the official price of N70 per litre.
Malam Hassan Liman, a commercial driver, said: "The fuel shortage forced me to abandon my vehicle, because I calculated that not a single profit would be made if I purchased the product from black market, since it is difficult to get that of the filling stations."
He accused independent and major marketers for diverting the products to black markets to make fabulous profit. He called on the National
Assembly to enact a law to prescribe a serious
penalty for hoarders of petroleum products.
But the Borno State chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers
Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mohammed Kolo denied that marketers were responsible for the problem through diversion and hoarding of the product.
He explained that the scarcity was a result of the recent nationwide strike by the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), coupled with failure of the NNPC to supply the product to Maiduguri depot through pipelines for over 15 years.
