Fuel Scarcity: Gridlock in Ibadan as queues resurface
Residents and motorists have again been plunged into anxiety and hardship as long queues for petrol have resurfaced in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Private cars, commercial vehicles and others were seen joining long queues in all the petroleum stations seen selling the product
Some of the areas in Ibadan included Bodija, Mokola, Sabo, Agodi Gate, Secretariat Road and Total Garden.
Others are Sango, Dugbe, Iyaganku and Queen Elizabeth Road, Apete, Awotan, Ijokodo, Polytechnic Road and Adamasingba.
Most filling stations within the metropolis that dispensed petrol on Wednesday and in the early hours of Thursday were greeted with long queues.
Most filling stations closed early on Wednesday, while others were shut as they claimed not to have products to dispense. The development led to the crowding of the filling stations that dispensed the commodity.
However the reason for the scarcity is yet to be known as of press time.
Meanwhile, the southwest zone of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), had on Wednesday evening threatened to direct its members to increase petrol pump price to N180 per litre.
IPMAN Zonal Chairman, Alhaji Dele Tajudeen, said members of the association in the southwest had been unable to buy petroleum products from any of the government depots, adding that they had resorted to getting supplies from private depot owners, who had capitalised on the situation to exploit them.
Tajudeen, who lamented that all the depots in the zone had refused to load trucks belonging to its members since January 2022, said that the private depot owners’ loading price is between N157 and N158, which is above the price that government depots would sell to the petroleum marketers.
“So, by the time we add the cost of transportation to the purchasing amount, we will be arriving at a sum above N165, which is the government-approved pump dispensing price.
“But sad enough, the regulatory agency appeared incapacitated to control and compel these private depot owners to sell at the government’s approved price for us.
“As of today, the purchasing price of diesel has increased by 400%. Again, I want members of the general public to know that cost of transporting the product ranges between N6 to N8 and N10 depending on where the products are being transported to from the Lagos private depot where we make purchases.
“I wish to equally intimate you that making purchases from these private depot owners is not the ultimate end, we also have some overhead costs to bear like running an electricity generator to power our filling stations; paying the staff salaries, as well as servicing the bank loans among other costs.
“So, by the time we have to add the cost of transportation with the purchasing amount, this situation clearly implied that we as independent marketers will be left with no other option than to dispense the products for nothing lesser than N175 to N180 for customers in the Lagos to Ibadan axis, while those within the Ogbomoso and Ilorin axis may have to buy at a dispensing pump price of N200 per litre,” Tajudeen said. (Daily Independent)
