Residents of Abuja groan as black marketeers sell fuel at N350 per litre.

By Adeleye Kunle

Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have lamented the country’s lingering fuel scarcity, with motorists paying between N300 and N350 per litre in Abuja on Monday.
It was learned that some Abuja residents have continued to complain about the rise in petrol prices and the difficulty in obtaining the product.

The queues for petrol in Abuja have never stopped since February of this year, but they grew worse on Sunday in neighboring states Nasarawa and Niger as motorists looked for PMS to use to get around during the Sallah break.

Oil marketers have denied claims of product hoarding or diversion, citing NNPC’s insufficient petrol supply and non-payment of bridging claims for petrol transportation as the primary causes of scarcity.

Chief John Kekeocha, National Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, told The Punch that more trucks had loaded products and were heading to Abuja.

“We are hopeful that the queues in Abuja and environs will clear very soon if all things remain equal and there is no continued agitation for payment of bridging claims,” he said.

“On price disparity, this is because many marketers purchased their products at higher rates than what the government approved, and they need to get the required margin in order to stay in business.”

“However, there has been no official pronouncement of any review in petrol price, whether upward or downward,” Kekeocha added. As a result, the official price of gasoline remains at the N165/litre government-approved rate.”

This article first appeared on Track News.