There are strong indications that fuel scarcity has returned to Lagos and its environs as many oil marketers shut down their outlets against motorists and other buyers of the product.
Politics Nigeria reports that fuel scarcity was noticed in Abuja and environs last week, development oil marketers had attributed to bad roads and high cost of diesel for distribution.
But checks over the weekend, indicated that many independent and major oil marketers were not open for business, leaving only the NNPC Limited to attend to customers in most parts of Lagos visited.
It was gathered that NNPC Limited has supply because it remains the only importer of the product.
Despite deregulation, other operators have not been able to import petrol because of market uncertainty and lack of foreign exchange, currently standing at more than N1,000/dollar in the informal market.
President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Okoronkwo, said actions had been taken to address the situation.
“Stakeholders have been meeting and measures have been taken to enable oil marketers to access foreign exchange at a rate that will not disturb the current price of the product,” Okoronkwo told Vanguard.
However checks in Abuja showed that most major marketers which were opened have hiked their pump price from N615 per liter to N625 per litre.
