By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
The scarcity of Premium Motor Spirits (PMS) popularly called petrol in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT ) and its environs is biting harder as many residents can no longer go to work or carry out their businesses because they could not find fuel anywhere to refill their tanks.
This is even as many retail petrol stations in Abuja that still have the products have resorted to selling to motorists during the night when they could maximise profits by jerking up the pump price from the official federal government price of N617 per liter.
At Lokogoma area under the jurisdiction of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and other places in the metropolitan city, filling stations are now open under darkness to beat any scrutiny by federal government agencies.
Prompt News can confirm that most of the filling stations visited on Thursday night were dispensing petrol but at higher prices of N780 to N830 per liter to desperate motorists who want to get to their destinations before midnight.
For five days running, residents of the FCT and its environs are yet to come to terms why fuel scarcity has persisted even as relevant federal government agencies especially the state-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) have kept mute over the sudden scarcity of the Premium Motor Spirits (PMS) popularly called petrol.
Prompt News reports that many filling stations in FCT closed since Monday over none availability of products still remain under lock and keys as at Friday morning just as the few which still have petrol to dispense are witnessing heavy queues at the outlets.
Also, the scarcity has triggered the pump price to go up to N750 to N800 depending on the filling stations while those buying in kegs from hawkers or black marketers pay higher costs.
The situation has caused thousands of commuters in FCT and neighbouring states of Nasarawa, Niger and Kogi left stranded at various bus stops due to the scarcity of PMS required by transporters to run their vehicles.
Expectedly, this has led to a hike in transport fares in the affected states, as the few transporters who had petrol raised their rates.
It was gathered that the scarcity was due to a shortage in the supply of PMS to the nation’s capital and other states, as this led to the closure of filling stations in the affected areas.
Although, oil marketers stated that they would hold a meeting with the management of the retail subsidiary of the NNPCL on Thursday to know the cause of the shortage and how to tackle it, no words have been heard on the outcome of the stakeholders meeting.
Hundreds of motorists have continued to besiege the few filling stations that sold petrol including in front of the corporate headquarters of NNPC in Abuja. READ ALSO:
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This led to vehicular traffic on the roads leading to NNPC headquarters and other surrounding companies in the Central Business District of Abuja.
The situation is the same with the FCT metropolis and satellite towns of Gwagwalada, Nya-nya, Mararaba, Kwali, etc.
