Fuel settles at N200 pl in Lagos with long queues and station closures
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Fuel price seems to have settled at N200 per litre in Lagos and Ogun, on the back of historic fluctuations which still linger in Abuja where motorists face the double jeopardy of long queues and a black market rate of between N250 and N350 per litre.
Despite the hike from the official price of between N162 and N165 per litre, some filling stations in Lagos have closed because of a lack of supply from depots, and those open witness long queues
Transport fares in the metropolis and the suburbs have shot up 50 per cent on some routes and 100 per cent in others.
A transport operator who plies the Berger-Mowe route between Lagos and Ogun said motorists confront both increase in fuel price and great difficulty in getting to buy the commodity.
“It’s because of the price at which we are buying it. For more than a week, we’ve been buying fuel for N200/litre or almost N200/litre. Apart from the increase in price, we often suffer before we can buy,” he said.
“Many filling stations have closed for business. They refuse to sell even though we know some of them to have fuel. Every day, I spend hours before buying fuel.
“Passengers think we enjoy increasing our fares, but if we don’t increase, we won’t make any profit. Even with the increase, we are still not making what we make on a normal day, especially because of the time it takes to buy fuel.”
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Commuters hit hard by soaring fares
A passenger who identified herself as Ganiyat said the increase in fares on the Berger-Ibafo axis is taking a toll on commuters.
“It is getting out of hand. I go from Ibafo to Lagos and back every day,” she told The PUNCH.
“Normally, I pay N200 from Berger to Ibafo, but ever since this fuel scarcity started, you have to make sure you come out with enough money because you don’t even know how much they are going to charge.
“Today, they are charging N500. On Saturday I paid N800 for a trip I normally pay N200.”
But Cyril Ukpor, who lives in the Iyana Ejigbo area of Lagos, said he bought fuel at N165 per litre at a filling station in the area owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).
Another resident in the area, who gave her name as Blessing, said she bought it at N200 per litre.
“I have been buying fuel for N200/litre. To me it is not really about the price, it is about the availability of the product.
“Let the product be readily available for us to buy. We know that whenever we start seeing long queues like this, it is an indication that they want to increase the pump price,” she added.
Fuel scarcity deepens in Abuja, costs N350 per litre
There have been fuel queues in Abuja and the surrounding states since February, which grew worse in neighbouring Nasarawa and Niger last Sunday, as motorists searched for fuel to move around during the Sallah break.
Oil marketers deny allegations of fuel hoarding or diversion, blaming scarcity on insufficient supply by the NNPC and the non-payment of bridging claims.
The consequence of the back and forth is that scarcity has worsened in the federal capital where motorists buying petrol for between N250 and N350 per litre.
“I’ve been buying from black marketers between N300 to N350 per litre.
“There is no fuel in most filling stations in Abuja. The ones that have, there’s a very long queue. Since I don’t have the time to wait, I often resort to the black market,” Michael Adebanjo, a motorist, told The PUNCH.
Another motorist, Ubong Edet, disclosed he bought fuel for N250 at a filling station last the weekend but subsequent difficult in getting it forces him to buy at N300 per litre in the black market.
“I bought for N250 on Saturday. I had to join a very long queue before I could even get it that day. Today, it was even more difficult. The queues are something else. So I decided to buy black market today. I bought it for N300 per litre.”
A Khalif filling station in the Kubwa area sells at N250 per litre but displays N165 per litre on its pumps. Once a motorist tells the attendant the amount he wants to buy, the attendant calculates it in black market rate.