The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) on Friday said that the ongoing fuel scarcity in the country might linger till the end of March.
The South-West Chairman of the union, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Korodo said that from all indications, loading of petrol at both NNPC depots and private depots were very slow.
He said that if there was no improvement in loading the product by next week, the situation might be worse.
“The pace of loading of fuel at NNPC depots in Mosinmi and Ejigbo is very slow as most tankers drivers that wanted to load, left the depots with nothing.
“Even at private depots where they sell above the ex-depot price, the pace of loading is very slow.
“Presently, we need massive loading of petrol nationwide to get over the present scarcity.
“I am imploring the government to improve on supply of fuel to all depots nationwide so that our tanker drivers can get the product and transport it to filling stations,’’ he said.
Scarcity of petrol continued as queues of motorists persisted in few filling stations that were selling the product. As the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) through its Products and Pipeline Marketing Company (PPMC) subsidiary, battles to stop ongoing fuel scarcity in the major cities of the country, it has decided to concentrate on the major oil marketers in supplying the market, The Nation learnt last night.
The corporation, sources said, opted to supply fuel to only the major marketers comprising Mobil Oil, Total Oil, Conoil, Oando and MRS having, allegedly, losing confidence in independent marketing companies.
Sources said allocations to some of the independent marketers were diverted and hoarded, worsening the supply situation. In view of this attitude, NNPC decided to allocate fuel to only major marketers for three consecutive days -Friday through Sunday- for a start.
There is also massive truck out and supply to Suleja to address Abuja fuel scarcity, sources said, adding that the queues might remain through next week but there is assurance that there will be fuel.
