Fuel Queues Return To Abuja, Independent Marketers Adjust Pump Price

Some independent oil marketers have reportedly adjusted pump prices in the nation’s capital, Abuja, on Tuesday as fuel queues have resurfaced in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Aside from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), a few petrol stations of independent marketers sold Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) petrol above the official N617 per litre cap.

It was gathered that while most filling stations were under lock, there were long fuel queues in the few stations that opened in some parts of the FCT.

It was also learned that black-marketers were sighted selling fuel in plastic containers as they moved within the capital’s major highways.

In a video posted on X, by ICIR on Wednesday evening, long queues of cars and other road users were seen at different filling stations in the FCT.

“Fuel queues return to Abuja. The scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, has again returned to the FCT, causing queues at the few filling stations still dispensing the product,” ICIR captioned the video.

According to the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), the fuel queues were back because of the high cost of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) diesel and also the non-availability of petrol in depots.

The IPMAN National Vice President, Mr John Ocha, told The Nation on Wednesday that queues have resurfaced because independent marketers are not selling petrol because of the non-availability.

He said, “In Abuja, since yesterday (Tuesday), many filling stations shut down, including A.Y. Shafa. But later in the evening, they started selling. It changed its pump to N625. I don’t know any other station that is still making sales.

“The scarcity is because many independent marketers are not selling. And even the tank farm owners, it is only Shafa that I know who is selling. I don’t know of any other one.

“The product is not much there, and the cost of landing of the product is quite high because the cost of diesel is very high. A litre of diesel is above N1000.

“For you to move a truck of fuel, for instance, from Warri to Abuja, you will be talking about N300,000 or more.

“And I wonder how many people will do that expenses and still come and be selling about N600 or there about.”

Responding to whether the government has moved against the adjusted pump price by independent marketers, Ocha said so far, they have been silent, possibly because of the inability to cushion the cost of diesel.

The IPMAN official continued, “I am sure that adjustment is to accommodate the cost of landing, which the government is silent about because they (the government) cannot make provision for diesel. The government cannot cushion the difference.

“The diesel cost is high, and therefore, that makes the landing cost of the product to be very high, especially at the very far places.”

However, he said marketers in Lagos and its environs can still sell at the cap pump price because of the closeness of depots.

“Areas like Lagos can afford to sell at the normal price because the proximity of the source of the product is close.

“They will not incur much cost in diesel. But for those who are selling, like those staying in Maiduguri, Katsina, Kano Abuja and the rest of them, you cannot tell them to sell within N600 or N610 because the landing cost of the product is terribly high because of the high cost of diesel. So the government is not saying anything about that,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the NNPCL has maintained that it has in stock PMS stock sufficient to last for 30 days.

The company’s Head of Corporate Communication, Iyabo Ojo, told the platform that there was no cause for alarm, as queues only resurfaced in Abuja and other places because of the conditions of the road.

Ojo said: “We have about 30 days’ sufficiency, so supply isn’t an issue. Road conditions have, however, made trucking quite challenging for all marketers.”