Despite assurances from the government that the lingering fuel crisis in the country would soon be a thing of the past, queues are still counting at filling stations across the country except places where it costs exorbitantly high.
The crisis, which has lingered for months in the country has continued despite the federal government reassurances that it has sufficient stock of petroleum products for distribution across the country.
Nigerians especially in major cities have endured an unpredictable supply of fuel for nearly a year now, with filling stations operating at reduced capacity.
The crisis started in 2021 after the government announced its plan to remove fuel subsidies. Marketers, who the regulators accuse of hoarding the product, have refused to resume normal operations even after the suspension of the subsidy removal plan.
In February, the federal government said methanol found in recently imported fuel exceeded Nigeria’s specification. The development has resulted in a shortage of petrol and queues reappearing in major cities. It has since spread to all parts of the country.
But, if Nigerian officials properly tested for the methanol content in the imported product, they would have observed it since from the departure country or at least when the vessels arrived at the Nigerian seaports. Nigerian officials only test for vapour pressure, benzene, sulfur content, and density. From this experience, Nigerian officials should start testing for methanol content levels for any imported petrol.
The resultant scarcity has created a window for unscrupulous petroleum sellers to charge exorbitant prices.
Traffic gridlocks appeared across major parts of the country as many service lanes were closed to traffic due to queues from petrol stations.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had few months ago assured Nigerians that the company had placed significant orders of over 2.1 billion litres of methanol-free petroleum to ensure that the long queues end in a few days.
Recently, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) again assured Nigerians that it has distributed petroleum products nationwide to resolve the fuel scarcity that has lingered for weeks yet rather than improve the situation, it has become worse.
Many motorists have relied on far more costly black market supplies for their fuel needs, and have faced the risks of damaged engines from adulterated products.
Indeed, many believe the development is undermining the nation’s economic activities.
Presumably, if the refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna were alive and operating optimally, maybe, there wouldn’t have been any need to bring in petroleum products, clean or dirty, from refineries in Europe possibly owned by Nigerians.
We therefore urge the Federal Government to further sanitise and strengthen the regulatory processes in the Petroleum industry such that the unclean fuel will ever not have in-road into the country. It also prove that there is a weak link in the chain of monitoring, inspection and approval of the petroleum products.
It must be recalled that this is not the first time the country is facing the embarrassment of some unscrupulous government officials and some private sector interests dumping this kind of low-quality product on Nigerian consumers.
It is disheartening that the price of crude in the international market is going up. Instead of being a cheery news, Nigerians are grieving because it means that they will have to pay more for the petroleum products they consume all of which are imported with their unit cost calculated in dollars.
This should serve as a wake-up call on the urgency of rebuilding our refineries and making them efficient and operational.
