Nigeria began the week with panic over news of a potential fuel shortage, a situation many Nigerians fear but have experienced at one point or the other.

As expected, the people of Lagos and Abuja took steps to store some fuel, but some petrol stations halted operations.

PANIC BUYING AND CONGESTED FUEL STATIONS

Panic buying is expected during fuel scarcity, and the situation was not any different now. Citizens were seen in different petrol stations with 25-litre kegs.

At Timac Petrol Station, Maryland, long queues of cars, up to Stanbic Bank, about three kilometres away from the station, were observed. People were seen with kegs hanging around the station. The buyers would still not leave at about 4 pm, when the station had closed for the day. At 3:58pm, there was still a long que of cars, with the occupants either asleep or nowhere to be found.

The situation was the same at Ardov PLC (AP), Vitality Oil and Gas and MRS, Ikeja.

LOCKED GATES, STRANDED CUSTOMERS

To control the situation, some petrol stations locked their gates and allowed only cars and people with kegs in. Timac and Total Energies, Maryland, took this measure. At AP (Ardova PLC), Ikeja, the situation was entirely different. No one was bared from going in, even though the queue stretched beyond the gate of the station. A petrol attendant told this reporter that although the station sold normally, they would soon shut down.

“I have been here for over four overs and I came here from GRA, Ikeja,” Okpe, a customer at Timac, Maryland, told this reporter.

At MRS, Ikeja, Oyekunle Ahmed said the long queue was better than what was happening at other places. “In fact,” he said, “this looks like a better option. The queue is terrible at other places”.

CONTROLLED AND UNCONTROLLED SALES

At Vitality Oil and Gas, petrol sales were regulated. Although an attendant of the station denied such development, this reporter heard another employee tell a driver who had asked for gas that “N2,000 is too much”.

However, the case was different at MRS, Ikeja, where the number of sales was uncontrolled despite a long queue. A customer, simply identified as Anthony, told this reporter, “This is my second time buying. One person even bought fuel up to N18,000 here one hour ago, and they are still selling”.

It was the same at Timac, where Bola, a fuel attendant, said, “There’s fuel. We are selling. When fuel finishes, we can close”.

At MRS, Ikeja, attendants extorted N50 naira from people who bought fuel in kegs. A particular customer was heard hurling abusive words at a fuel attendant for taking N100 from her, against the fifty naira he took from others. When this reporter reached out to her. She said, “The guy removed N50 from kegs. But from me, he removed N100”.

COMMERCIAL DRIVERS AND TRANSPORT COST

Expectedly, fuel scarcity would have impacts on transportation. This reporter gathered from drivers that the scarcity made them spend working hours at petrol stations. It would cause higher transportation costs. Ufon, a driver in Maryland, said, “There has been an increase. In the morning, the price to Ojuelegba was N300. Now, it’s N400”.

While fuel prices were expected to rise, petrol was sold at the regular N162 or N165 per litre at all the stations visited by this reporter.

While no one knows how long the shortage would last, long queues are expected to continue at service stations for as long as it lasts.