Fuel scarcity has returned to Lagos, raising concerns about the potential impact on the economy. On Tuesday morning, traffic was caused by the fact that many retail stations in Alimosho Local Government were shut down and the ones that did operate were clogged with long lines of people.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has not responded to the evolving fuel scarcity crisis, despite patterns suggesting that this may be because of the flooding situation.
Due to what is regarded as the worst flood catastrophe to hit the nation in ten years, petrol shortages are already becoming more severe in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and its surroundings.
Given the recent developments this publication has noticed, it appears that this may be spreading to other regions of the nation more quickly.
Mr. Chinedu Ukadike, a spokesman for the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN), cited the product vessels’ tardy arrival as the cause of the ongoing shortage.
In spite of the fact that the vessels were just arriving, he claimed that this had caused the NNPC Limited’s stock sufficiency level to decline.
“For us, the independent marketers, we are service oriented, and we normally buy our products from NNPC, private depots, and private tank farm owners and some of them are located in Lagos, Warri and Port Harcourt knowing fully well that we import petroleum products in this country, and most of these products are vessel driven depots, and they collect products from ships.
“Recently, NNPC and the PPMC, I think there is a shortfall in the sufficiency they have in stock because some of the mother vessels they are expecting are just arriving there was a little delay and some of the logistics in handling charges in the depots, so these are the issues that have truncated the chain of supply.
“Because some of these mother vessels that were supposed to arrive Nigeria and be able to distribute and send to these private depots, there was a little delay in payments and receipts and NIMASA,” he said.
Although the flood had abated, he observed that several depots were running low on supplies.