58 MILLION LITRES RECEIVED BY MARKETERS

By Sebastine Obasi

The lingering fuel scarcity which hit had on the entire country in the last four days, may easy up this week.
We learnt that the 58 million litres of fuel promised by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, have been released to major marketers. Confirming the development, Mr. Taofeek Lawal, Head Corporate Affairs of NIPCO Plc told Vanguard that they have started dispensing the product

“We are part of the 58 million litres allocation. I don’t have the actual volume received by NIPCO, but we were given together with Aiteo. In fact, we have started dispensing. We are even doing a marathon night loading to make sure we reach all our customers. We are always ready to serve them,” he said.
Efforts made to reach Aiki Odianwe, Head Corporate Affairs of Aiteo were not successful as her phone was switched.

However, most of the filling stations visited by Vanguard were closed to customers, while few that opened were besieged by motorists who formed long queues to get the product. Conoil, MRS, Total, Acorn and Oando stations at Alapere area of Lagos were closed, while Oando and Conoil station at Marina, Lagos, were open with long queues of buyers, which resulted in the traffic snarl that engulfed the area. At Mobil and Forte stations on Moloney Street, Lagos Island, there was also traffic jam, as motorists struggled to get fuel.

Motorists claimed that they bought a litre of petrol at N100, as against the approved pump price of N87.The situation has created an opportunity for “black market” to thrive as fuel hawkers make brisk business. Vanguard learnt that in such areas Ogba and Agege, two litres of fuel sold for N250.