Hoodlums Threaten To Burn Down Fuel Stations As #FuelScarcity Bites Harder
There are strong indications that hoodlums in Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State may begin to burn down filling stations that sell fuel to customers in the dead of the night for unbridled profiteering.
Investigations conducted by the Street Journal revealed that some filling stations are fond of selling fuel to customers between 1 am and 3 am to avoid the usual long queues that are always preponderant in the few filling stations that sell fuel during the day time.
It was gathered that all Bethel filling stations in Ibadan was one of the culprits of what the hoodlum termed illicit trade. It was gathered that the hoodlums around Iyana Adeoyo and Ososami axis of the metropolis have threatened to storm the Iyana Adeoyo Bethel fuel station should the station open at the odd hour to sell fuel today.
It was argued that Bethel filling stations encourage the black market business in the ancient city of Ibadan as fuel is sold to customers with jerrycans at night. It was argued that such customers usually sell the essential commodity at exorbitant prices during the day time. Further investigation revealed that fuel is sold at Bethel filling stations at between N200 and N250 per litre at the buyers re-sell the commodity during the day time for between N300 and N500 a litre in the black market.
All efforts to efforts made by our correspondent to get reactions of the owner of the filling station simply identified as Pastor Victor proved abortive. But one of the attendants who begged for anonymity confirmed the sale of fuel at night by the station. He said, ”we always sell fuel any time we get delivery. If we get fuel at night, and there are people to buy we just have to sell to them”.
When asked why the sale could not be suspended till the next day, the young man in his early twenties said ”we always follow the instructions of our boss”.
However, the current nationwide scarcity of refined petroleum products has reached a crisis point with a litre of petrol selling for between N200 and N500 in many parts of the country, while other petroleum products such as diesel and kerosene have also become elusive,
Also, with power generation dropping to an all-time low of 1,327 megawatts, most Nigerian households are now living without electricity as they have also run out of fuel to power their generators. The situation has also started affecting companies with some firms like MTN and Airtel saying that they could not get diesel to run generators at their base stations.
Petrol has dried up in almost all the filling stations nationwide, while black marketers have capitalised on the prevailing scarcity by selling the product in jerry cans for between N200 and N500 per litre in places like Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kaduna and Lagos states, as well as the Federal Capital Territory.
The Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Thomas Olawore, said though the marketers had reached out to the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, on the lingering fuel supply problems, they had yet to get a positive response. He confirmed that the marketers were not importing petrol at the moment, because they did not have the wherewithal to do so.
The spokesperson for the Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Saidu Muhammed, said the product scarcity was primarily due to the ongoing workers’ strike in the NNPC. He said, “Products are not coming out from the depots and there’s virtually nothing anybody can do for now. But hopefully, when they resolve the strike, things may become normal.
Nigeria is being crippled by the fuel shortage that the country has been experiencing for more than a month.
Banks have shortened opening times, flights have been cancelled and phone companies may restrict services.
Mark Uma, in Abuja, says: “The queues at fuel stations are terrible and fuel prices are rising hourly. There is no power at the moment either.”
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