Fuel sells between N150 and N360 in petrol stations in North Central and South-West, a survey by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), has revealed.
North-Central comprised of Jos, Nasarawa, Niger, Kogi and Benue, while South-West is made up of Ibadan, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Kwara.
Correspondents of NAN monitoring the situation report that long queues of vehicles were noticed in most of the stations in spite of the high cost of the product.
In Jos, motorists in their hundreds now sleep over in their cars at NNPC Mega stations to avoid vandalism.
With car owners getting desperate, management of some stations had introduced tallies at minising the chaos in the stations.
NAN reports that cars in the city and environs had moved into the NNPC Mega stations because other stations dispensed the product between N280 and N330.
The Controller, Department Petroleum Resources (DPR) Mr Douglas Caesar, said the department had continued to monitor the sales but decried that the stations dispense the product at night, In Niger, motorists buy a litre at N200.
A trader, Alhaji Abdulahi Tella, told NAN that ``we buy a litre for N200, this is becoming normal and we do not see much wrong with that any longer’’.
NAN reports that Gov. Abubakar Bello on Monday visited some stations and NNPC mega stations where he advised against hoarding and sharp practices.
Alhaji Abdulahi Isa, Controller of DPR in Niger, blamed the shortage on the low supply of the commodity.
``Niger is supposed to get 30 trucks per day but we get only two on the average,’’ he said.
The situation is the same in Kogi, where a litre is being sold for between N200 and N260 in most filling stations in Lokoja.
At Okene and Kabba, two other major towns in the state, fuel sold for between N210 and N220 per litre.
In Taraba NAN found that only AA Rano, Road-block, and NNPC Mega station at Mayo-Gwoi sold the product.
With fuel queues snaking through most parts of Jalingo, most motorist had resorted to buying the commodity from road side vendors at between N1500 and N1800 for four litre gallon.
In Nasarawa, the story was the same with commuters in Lafia and environs groaning over the lingering fuel scarcity.
NAN checks in Lafia on Tuesday revealed that only three petrol stations were dispensing the product to customers.
NAN reports that while the NNPC mega station is selling at N86 per litre, Sandaji and Popsy stations on Jos Road were selling for N214 and N210, respectively.
NAN also reports that the queue at the NNPC mega station in Lafia, stretched over three kilometres with motorists struggling to outsmart themselves.
Malam Yusuf Sule, a driver, said that the situation was becoming unbearable as the price of the product had forced them to increase their transport fare.
According to Sule, the fare from Lafia to Abuja that usually cost between N700 to N800, is now N1,200.
Similarly, Mr Agu Clement, a motorcyclist, decried the scarcity and called on the authorities to act quickly to ameliorate the suffering. Meanwhile, Alhaji Usman Sandaji, the Chairman of Sandaji Oil, has explained that the high cost of the product was due to the high price from the sources.
``We got product last night from the black market at the rate of N212 per litre and decided to sell at N214 to enable us pay staff salary and maintain the station,’’ he said.
In South-West, in spite of the massive supply of fuel into many states, the product was still selling at exorbitant rate in many retail outlets and the black market.
In Ibadan, many filling stations owned by independent marketers were selling PMS at between N150 and N200 per litre.
Some marketers like Oando, Mobil, Total, Bovas and Forte, were selling at the official rate of N86.50, while the NNPC stations sold for N86.00.
The product, which throughout the previous week was very scarce, was now available at various filling stations in Ibadan, but long queues persisted at the stations.
More www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/fuel-scarcity-persists-north-central-south-west/
