The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has expressed surprise that there is still fuel scarcity after disbursing 25,042,686 litres of petrol to 11 depots in two days.
Statistics made available by the corporation shows that Suleja supplied a total of 7,178,613 litres on November 14 and 15, while the Kaduna and Kano depots supplied 2,470,490 litres and 4,130,847 litres respectively within those two days.
The statistics also indicate that the Minna depot supplied 224,986 litres, Gusua depot supplied 2,311,951 litres, Satelite depot supplied 2,164,940 litres and Ilorin depot supplied 303,000 litres during the period.
The Ore depot supplied 110,989 litres, Ibadan depot supplied 766,007 litres, Gombe area supplied 3,662,893 litres and Aba depot supplied 917,970 litres.
But mixed reactions continue to trail the NNPC claim on the availability of the product as the current situation in Lagos State is giving the impression that the product may really be in short supply despite the assurances from the minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu.
At the weekend most filling stations virtually ran out of stock creating serious traffic bottleneck as insignificant number of outlets with products have to attend to several hundreds of vehicles on the queue.
Mobil, Oando, Conoil and Total at Maryland ran out of stock between Saturday and Monday. Along Oshodi-Mile 2, virtually all filling stations did not have fuel. At Ojota, MRS, Total were not selling except the NNPC mega station.
which was selling to uncontrollable crowd on Monday.
Although, transport fare remain unchanged commuters are largely stranded at various bus stops forcing some people to trek distance to get to their destination.
But responding to inquiry, Alamu Ayo, chairman, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Ejigbo satellite depot in Lagos said there is no enough fuel at the moment to sustain supply.
Ayo said in a telephone interview that private depots both at Apapa and satellite area of Ejigbo which feed most of the western states are dry.
“I can tell you that there is no fuel, the little that NNPC has is not enough to go round and we are all rationing.
What I can say is that the NNPC has product that could last for four days and that is about last week.
As of today (Monday) we are loading one truck and the quantity available can last for just two days, so what I am saying is that by tomorrow Tuesday (Today) we will depleted the available stock” the chairman said.
He explained that what will create more scarcity is non-payment of subsidy claims to Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMA).
“Go to their depots and you will not find petrol but if government pays them they will resume import and that will take 21 days for such product to arrive” Ayo explained.
But Femi Oyewole, executive secretary of DAPPMA could not be reached for comments, as he was not picking his calls.
However, spokesperson of NIPCO the marketing arm of IPMAN, Mr Biodun Lawal confirmed that the company has fuel at its depot.
“We received supply from the NNPC last Thursday but it is not much and will run out in few days.
I don’t know if we will still have supply, but for our outlets, some have and are dispensing. The truth is that product is in short supply” Lawal confirmed.
A competent source at the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) who will not want to be named said, “we held meeting with marketers last week and the truth is that there is insufficient supply in the system”.
“We have tried to compel them to sell but we realise they don’t have, it is only NNPC that is supplying and how much can the agency import and distribute.
We understand they have not been settled and they have exhausted their credit line and banks are not willing to release funds to them” the source added.
Source: Today
