Nigerians groan over fuel scarcity, IPMAN blames private depot owners

Nigerians have continued to groan over the scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as fuel in Lagos, Abuja, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and other cities in Nigeria.

This is as the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, disclosed that the private depot owners should be blamed for the ravaging fuel scarcity.

It was gathered that citizens now resort to buying fuel at a whopping black market price of N500-700/Per litre because of the unending fuel unavailability.

The situation, It was gathered, was heightened over the weekend in Lagos and some major cities of the country, such as Calabar, capital of Akwa Ibom, where pump price has risen to N500 per litre.

In Calabar city, black market sellers have taken advantage of the scarcity selling for up to N700 per litre, Track news learnt.

For instance, a keg of 5 litres of petrol is sold for at least N2500 in Maryland and Ajah of the State during the weekend.

In Abuja, along the Kubwa Expressway, only two of the over seven filling stations were seen dispensing fuel.

It was learnt that some filling stations have stock but refused to dispense the product. But black market sellers were seen with fuel on major roads in Abuja.

The development has caused untold hardship to Nigerians as transport fares, and prices of goods and services have been hiked in some cities.

However, the situation worsened in the last two days as commuters have trekked the distance to their destination in Lagos and Calabar.

Mrs Linda Iheanacho, a resident of Calabar, stated that she bought fuel at the price of N500/per litre on Sunday after spending hours on queue.

Similarly, Okon Mfon disclosed that for the past 3 days, getting fuel has been hell for most residents of Lagos