Fuel Scarcity Imminent As Depots Run Dry, Marketers Warn

The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has sounded a warning that the nation is about to be thrown into a major fuel crisis.

The association gave two reasons for the looming crisis. First is non- processing and issuance of petrol import allocation for the first quarter of this year by the government. The second is the huge subsidy debt owed major marketers, a figure the association put at  N120 billion.

According to MOMAN, the quantity of product at the  major depot at Apapa Lagos which holds about 33 per cent of national reserve may not last five days.

It therefore  cautioned that except the issues were urgently addressed by  the federal government,  fuel scarcity would hit the country.

Executive Secretary of MOMAN,  Mr Obafemi Olawore, who gave the warning during a media briefing in Lagos yesterday,  feared  that with the fast  depletion of stock,  if urgent steps were not taken, Nigerians may be thrown into a fresh round of acute fuel shortage.According to him, government should not allow the delayed approval of import allocation to marketers degenerate to fuel scarcity as the country wasfast running out of stock.

He said: “MOMAN depot at Apapa which controls about 33 per cent of national demands had only five days petrol sufficiency, which literarily means, we are gradually running out of stock.

“As we speak,  three big major oil marketers in the country have exhausted their stock, government should not encourage the situation of allowing only Pipeline Products and Marketing Company (PPMC) to import fuel.

“PPMC cannot meet the demand of importation Nigeria requires and to avoid previous experience of petrol scarcity, government should not entrust importation in PPMC hand.”

Source: Leadership