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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and oil marketers have blamed the return of fuel queues in Lagos and Federal Capital Territory to the disruption of supply in the cities' depots.
It was reliably gathered that some oil marketers and transporters in the two cities reduced the number of trucks sent for loading following the planned nationwide protest.
It was also learnt that some PMS dealers had asked some of their truck drivers to park, particularly those involved in the transportation of products from the coastal depots in the South to the hinterlands in the North.
The situation, however, contributed to the return of fuel queues in some parts of the country, like Abuja, Nasarawa, Niger, Lagos, and Ogun, among others.
The NNPCL said the fuel queues were caused by hitches in the discharge operations of a couple of vessels.
It was learnt that the fuel queues surfaced at the Nipco Filling Station on the Zuba-Kubwa Expressway, Abuja on Saturday.
Many other outlets, including Shafa, Salbas, and Gegu Oil, among others, located on the busy Kubwa-Zuba Expressway, were also closed yesterday.
In Lagos, while the pump price increased, the fuel queues occurred at some major filling stations located along the Lagos/Abeokuta Expressway, especially those in the Abule-Egba, Agege, LASU/Igando, Egbeda, and Iyana-Ipaja axis of the state.
As a result of the scarcity, petrol was sold for between N650 and N850 in the affected parts of Lagos on Saturday with an overwhelming queue.
This was just as several other filling stations were not dispensing petrol despite being open.
Commenting on the development, the Deputy National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Zarma Mustapha, said the queues were also due to the planned protest.
Mustapha said: “The planned protest is one of the reasons for the queues we are seeing now. Most transporters and marketers are a bit sceptical about dispatching their trucks for loading at the various coastal depots for delivery to the hinterlands.
“So, people are waiting to see how things are going to be, and there are not many trucks that have gone to lift the product. Everybody is watching; nobody knows how the protest is going to turn out.”
The IPMAN official urged those gearing up to protest to be responsible during the exercise to avoid losses to private businesses, government, and other individuals.
He urged: “My advice is that even though it is the legitimate right of anyone to protest, it should be done with a sense of responsibility because we have a lot of unemployed idle youths. It shouldn’t be done in such a way that hoodlums will hijack the protest and cause disharmony within the country.
“No matter what you are protesting against, there must be peace. Once law, order, and peace are strangulated, we will all face the consequences."
Also speaking on the queues, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC, Olufemi Soneye, in a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday, blamed the development on discharge operations at some fuel vessels.
“The NNPC Ltd wishes to state that the tightness in fuel supply and distribution witnessed in some parts of Lagos and the FCT is due to a hitch in the discharge operations of a couple of vessels.
“The company further states that it is working round the clock with all stakeholders to resolve the situation and restore normalcy in operations."
