Why black marketers, fuel queues resurfaced in Abuja—-Expert

Ayobami Adedinni

An energy analyst, Adeola Yusuf, has revealed the reasons behind the resurgence in lingering queues at filling stations in Abuja , Nigeria’s administrative capital, and other parts of the northern Nigeria.

Speaking on a Television Continental (TVC) Breakfast Show monitored by Maritime360, Yusuf said that the black marketers who have reportedly been spotted at some roads in the FCT and parts of the North, are youths who plugged into the fuel supply shortage due to high rate of unemployment.

According to him, the fuel queues may spread to Lagos and other parts of Nigeria if the government, marketers and the labour unions do not, in the next few days, agree on issues bothering the downstream sub-sector.

Signs of possible petrol shortage emerged few weeks ago when members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) raised the alarm that private depot owners had increased the price of the product by N9 per litre.

To douse anxiety amongst consumers, NNPC disclosed that it had over 1.7 billion litres of petrol in stock and more petrol “is expected to arrive into the country daily over the coming weeks and months”.

The Corporation explained that “it is therefore unnecessary to entertain any fear of scarcity of petrol throughout the festive season and beyond.

“The NNPC is also not aware of any plan by government to cause an increase in the pump price of petroleum.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has made that declaration last week”.

“The NNPC is also engaging all stakeholders to ensure smooth supply and distribution of products to every part of the country during the festive season and beyond”, it stated.