Nigerians have been urged to resist the
urge to engage in panic buying of petroleum products due to the current fuel scarcity of products in some of the
distribution outlets across the country
which was occasioned by the recent rally by youths across the country to demand an end to police brutality.
Critical stakeholders in the petroleum sector who spoke with Vanguard in Abuja,
however, advised car-owners to resist the
idea of panic buying because of the sudden appearance of long queues at some of the fuel stations that are dispensing the Premium Motor Spirit.
Chairman Board of Directors, Independent
Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Abdulkadir Aminu, in his response has predicted that the scarcity would not last for more than another five days.
According to him, “I am not surprised to see the queues on Monday in Abuja and some other states where it was reported because of obvious reasons.
“As we can recall, the events of the recent times has disrupted a lot of things in the country, and one of the immediate natural
outcomes of the recent rallies across the country is the scarcity of products at distribution outlets across the country.
“It is not due to unavailability of the
products or artificial scarcity by marketers of the products because there is no valid reason to do anything like that
by patriotic businessmen and women who are doing their bit to contribute to nation-building,” Alhaji Aminu said.
When asked why it had dragged to its third day, Alhaji Aminu, who also doubles as the Executive Director, NIPCO PLC, said though it was expected, it is development that will soon fade away just as it had sneaked in on Nigerians.
On Wednesday when Vanguard went around the city, many of the outlets that had long queues already locked their gates to motorists because they had already run out of stock.
As on Wednesday morning, commuters
who used public transportation were
already feeling the effect of the scarcity because there was a visible reduction in the number of taxis to transport passengers from bus stops.
Therefore, passengers spent more time at bus stops and has to pay a bit more for
the available space which was without
any regard for the COVID-19 protocol as many passengers were seen without face
masks while the loading pattern was done without social distancing.
