Fuel Scarcity Lingers Despite NNPC’s Claims Of Releasing A Million Litres Of PMS

Nigeria still suffers fuel scarcity despite claims of availability of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

This last weekend, citizens were seen in parts of the country including the Federal Capital City, Abuja, Niger, Nasarawa and some other states queuing up to get fuel, Naija News reports.

The hike in the price of petrol is another disturbing factor Nigerians are bitterly lamenting over the past month.

Meanwhile, the NNPC has claimed in publications that it has been releasing several million litres of petrol to address the situation.

In February, the firm announced that no less than 300 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS was imported into the country to ease fuel scarcity in major cities of the country.

In its latest weekly national PMS evacuation report for February 21 to 26, 2022, seen on Sunday, NNPC revealed also that it evacuated an additional 381.88 million litres of petrol during the period.

Naija News recalls that week ago, the oil firm also stated that it distributed a total of 387.59 million litres of PMS from February 14 to 20, 2022, in its bid to bridge the petrol supply gap.

However, despite the reported importations, the queues for petrol in filling stations that dispensed the commodity on Sunday remained unchanged as witnessed in the states mentioned above.

Naija News understands that massive queues formed by motorists were seen at the Nipco filling station along the Kubwa end of the Kubwa-Zuba expressway in Abuja. In Zuba, Niger State, motorists besieged the few outlets that sold petrol, forming long queues.

The same situation played out in filling stations in Mararaba and Nyanya in Nasarawa State, as petrol users in many other states complained of scarcity in their various locations.

NNPC has said 80 per cent of all the evacuation took place at the top 20 high loading depots, while 20 per cent of the remaining evacuation took place at the other depots.

The top 20 high load-out depots include Pinnacle-Lekki with 43.259 million litres; Aiteo, 22.462 million litres; A.A. Rano, 22.43 million litres; A.Y.M Shafa, 19.232 million litres; and Prudent, 17.788 million litres, among others.

In the next category, the firms that were involved in PMS load-out, according to NNPC, include Gonzaga, 8.23 million litres; Bova’s Bulk-Ibafon, 7.761 million litres; PPMC Mosimi, 7.15 million litres; and First Royal, 4.825 million litres; among others.

Nigerians are, however, hopeful that the scarcity of petrol will subside in the nearest days as the unavailability of electric power supply is making the situation even worse, Naija News reports.