Hunger protest: Fuel queues return nationwide after marketers halted supply

Fuel queues have returned nationwide after 72 hours of protests which kicked off on Thursday, August 1.

The street processions forced oil marketers to halt the supply of petroleum products in a bid to avert losing their assets .

The National Public Relations Officer of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Chinedu Ukadike, told said marketers were advised to close their stations during the protest to avoid losing their assets.

He also stated that many tankers did not load products during the first and second days of the protest, stressing that this distortion in the supply chain would cause shortages in states where the products would have been supplied.

“Although the National President of IPMAN, Abubakar Maigandi, urged independent marketers to go out and do their businesses normally and asked the security agencies to protect our facilities, it is pertinent to note that as at the time we were about to sell, we were called by the security agencies to step down the selling of products at that time.

“They said this is because they want to be able to control the situation during the protest and the vandalism of marketers’ properties.

Now that the trucks are no longer moving due to this protest, the depots are not working, the truck drivers are not driving, particularly during the first and second days of the protest, these issues have disrupted the supply of petroleum products. So it will result in scarcity at the filling stations,” Ukadike told Punch.

According to reports, many states including Lagos, Abuja, Katsina, and Delta, among others, witnessed varying levels of fuel scarcity on Sunday.