Fuel scarcity: Price hike worsens transport fare
..Attendants seek illegal charges from customers
…Nigerians lament
…Deregulation, panacea for scarcity, sharp practices in petroleum industry — former MOMAN Chairman
…Lagos, Abuja, Benin, Osogbo, Abeokuta, others
By Our Correspondents
Nigerians have continued to bear the brunt of the lingering fuel scarcity worsened by adulterated Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol, earlier imported into the country.
The persistent fuel scarcity has sparked a hike in the prices of products across filling stations in the Country. This is just as the trend has rendered cost of transportation high and inconsistent in metropolis of major cities across States in the Federation.
This is against the promise of the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Mele Kyari, on February 16, before the House of Representatives Committee on NNPC (Downstream) investigating the importation of adulterated fuel into the Country, that an end would be brought to the scarcity by the end of February
However, a day to end February, Nigerian NewsDirect observed a hike and variation in the cost of purchasing fuel in major cities including Lagos, Abuja, Abeokuta, Port Harcourt, Benin, and Osogbo, among others.
Furthermore, reports revealed that only a handful of commercial drivers still charge the normal rate for transporting passengers in some cities, as the majority of the drivers have jerked up the fare.
As gathered, commuting at night has become burdensome to Nigerians in these cities as the transport fare has soared very high, a situation commuters have lamented vehemently.
As gathered, at MOMAN filling stations in the South- West, a litre of petrol sells at N165 while the filling stations of independent marketers sell between N195 and N200.
Our Correspondent in Abeokuta observed that fuel at filling stations owned by independent marketers are being sold between N200 and N210 per litre.
This is just as attendants have been observed to be collecting unofficial charges ranging between N100 and N200 per transaction from desperate fuel seeking customers.
However, for filling stations owned by major marketers, the fuel is sold for N165 per litre, though the attendants made brisk with this as they also collected between N100 and N200, depending on the volume of products purchased by customers.
“For instance, someone who bought 5 litres might be charged N100 while those who buy more, say 15 litres will part with N200,” a source told our Correspondent in Abeokuta.
Over the weekend, PMS was sold at N250 per litre along Lagos-Abeokuta Express road with an extra charge of N100.
Along Ijoko Road in Ogun State, fuel was sold at N165 per litre with extra unofficial charges pegged based on the volume of fuel purchased.
A source who filled his fuel tank told NewsDirect he was charged N500 for his purchase.
Over the weekend, fuel pump price averaged at N198 per litre at Toll Gate, Ile-Ife without incurring extra charges
In some filling stations, customers with gallons were charged according to the size of the gallons while cars were not charged.
Black market becoming ‘cool business’ in Abuja
In Abuja, operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) moved to mitigate the influx of black marketers who were selling fuel at exorbitant prices.
Investigation revealed that some bike men would fill their fuel tanks only to resell to people at higher prices, and this is fast becoming a “cool business” in Abuja amid the scarcity.
Although at Bomy fuel station Kurudu, Mobil at Jikwoyi, and A.A. Rano at Karu-Nyanya Road, a litre of petrol goes for N165, black marketers have taken over the sale of PMS as many other filling stations were shut. For instance, most of the filling stations along Area 1/Lugbe Road did not sell fuel.
In Gwagwalada, the PMS goes for N200 per litre at some filling stations. Furthermore, some filling stations sold fuel at N350 per litre, while they charged between N300 and N500 for gallons.
Customers buying in gallons were observed to have to pay extra cost as attendants believe that most of these buyers are black marketers who intend to resell.
While the NSCDC officers moved around Zone 2 to arrest black marketers, they seized the kegs of some black marketers that were filled with fuel. To some extent, they were able to curb the black marketers in the heart of the city.
However, at Jikwoyi/Karu area, black marketers were seen selling the product for as high as N7000 per 10 litres, which is equivalent to N700 per litre. Also, along Area 1/Lugbe Road, black marketers were seen right beside filling stations selling fuel to buyers.
Increment in transport fare deters civil servants.
Consequent upon the persistent fuel scarcity, and the attendant increase in cost of transportation, NewsDirect gathered that civil servants no longer go to work every day, as they simply call their unit heads for permission, using fuel scarcity as an excuse.
Also, some car owners in Abuja now prefer to park their vehicles at home while they join public transport. According to them, “it is more economical.”
It is a common practice in Abuja for private car owners to help residents on their way to work. However, this act has skyrocketed as many private car owners now do that in order to get what they call “fuel money,” and most of them now charge about N300 per drop instead of the usual N200.
From Nyanya to Bergerrr area of Abuja, residents board vehicles at the normal rate of N200 in the afternoons. However, there is a N100 increase in transport fare at the rush hours.
Most of the tricycle operators, popularly called Keke drivers, now charge N150 from Nyanya to Jikwoyi, instead of the usual N100, as only a few of them still charge N100. For instance, Jikwoyi phase II extension to junction used to be N100, but passengers have to plead with drivers for N150 once people are returning home from work.
Fuel price oscillates between N195 and N210 in Benin City
In Benin City, the capital of Edo State, the pump price of fuel oscillates between N195 and N210, depending on where the fuel is being bought.
At NNPC mega filling stations, the price is lowest at N195 while in private filling stations, it alternates between N200 and N210.
Meanwhile, passengers are only able to buy fuel after undergoing a delay occasioned by long queues.
The negative multiplier effect of this new pump rate has been 50 percent increase in the cost of transportation in the metropolis.
Rural areas in Port Harcourt are worse hit.
The fuel situation in Port Harcourt, Rivers State is not different. A litre is sold between N200 and N350. At Mobil Filling Station, Odili Road, fuel pump price was at N200 over the weekend.
The rural areas are worse hit, especially the riverine communities where fuel is sold between N250 and N350 per litre.
In consequence, transport fare has skyrocketed. Commuters now pay between N100 and N150 to places they would ordinarily pay N50.
For instance, Rumuola to Isaac Boro Park is now N150 to N200 as against N100 before the scarcity. The shortest distance is now N100 per drop instead of N50.
Osun residents call on FG to do the needful.
Meanwhile, as long queues persist in some of the filling stations in Osun state, residents have cried out to the Federal Government to urgently do the needful before it spirals out of control.
Our correspondent gathered that some petrol stations in Osogbo, the State capital, Ikirun, Ilesa and Ile-Ife and some other parts have been shut down since the adulterated surfaced in Nigeria.
A visit to RAANO in Osogbo, which is selling PMS at the rate of N165/N170 per litre, revealed that the filling station was locked for almost four hours while motorists queued to buy fuel.
BOVAS filling stations in Osogbo, Ikirun, Ilesa are selling at the rate of N165 per litre. While some BOVAS stations in Ile-Ife are only selling fuel for the motorists and motorcyclists on queue, customers with gallons were ignored.
Also, the fuel pump price in some other filling stations sold between N220 and N230.
A commercial driver identified as Balogun Basiru lamented that the process of getting fuel for his vehicle was stressful, charging the Federal Government to rescue the commoners in the country.
Basiru said it was very difficult for him to get litres of petrol for his business since the adulterated petrol surfaced in the country.
According to him, “The stress commercial drivers are passing through before getting petrol for our business is not easy. I prefer to go for a high price than wasting my time.”
One of the passengers at the Iree motor park in Osogbo identified as Oyelowo Bukola said that she has reduced her travelling from Iree to Osogbo due to transport fare.
“I do come to Osogbo to buy goods every two days but now I had reduced it to twice in a week because of transportation. Osogbo to Iree town transport was N400 before but now it has increased to N500 which it may not return to the old price even when petrol is sold again at the normal price.
“Let the government provide solutions to this on time before it will affect other transactions,” she pleaded.
Meanwhile, despite the assurance of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) weeks ago that the company has sufficient stock of PMS to meet the needs of Nigerians, none of the NNPC stations in Osogbo were open to sell petrol as at the time of filing this report.
Deregulation, panacea for scarcity, sharp practices in petroleum industry — Former MOMAN chairman
Meanwhile, former Chairman of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr Tunji Oyebanji, in an interview with Nigerian NewsDirect said deregulation of the petroleum industry is the solution to the intermittent cases of scarcity and sharp practices within the sector.
While advocating that the petroleum industry should be deregulated, he disclosed that price control is difficult to achieve in a situation where there is petrol scarcity.
“How would the regulators police the large filling stations across the country?”, he asked.
“There are unscrupulous people who won’t keep the regulated price of fuel, especially during scarcity. However, the government should clampdown on filling stations engaging in sharp practices,” he added.
