Published 27th Oct, 2022

By Segun Ige

The sale of fuel was a spectacle to behold at Eterna Filling Station, Gbagada, Lagos, when residents came in their hundreds to get fuel due to the latest scarcity that had just hit the nation’s commercial hub.

The station’s attendants were seen charging vehicle and jerry can owners between N500 and N1000 before fuel could be sold to them on Wednesday.

Whether in cash or fund transfer, Jamiu Lawal, one of the attendants at the station, was determined to collect the ‘compulsory charge’ from customers.

Lawal told FIJ that the government was to blame for ‘everything’ and that the charges he collected were not gains meant for him alone.

“You guys are ignorant of the system at filling stations,” he said.

“Sometimes before you resume work, you are told to pay N30,000 from your own pocket to the fuel station management before you occupy any pump, whether scarcity or no scarcity.

“And if I ever make N20,000 sale from these charges, I take half and give the other half to my boss.”

FIJ also observed an anomaly in pump price at the station.

Seyi Gunwa, a vehicle owner who had been at the station since 8am, said he felt cheated after he was made to pay an extra N500 on a 25-litre can of petrol he bought.

According to Gunwa, the fuel attendant made him pay N5,500 on fuel that read N4,193 on the pump screen.

Seyi Gunwa’s receipt showing N5000, instead of N5500

“That’s how he’s been doing to everybody. They say the youths are the leaders of tomorrow. I can assure you there can’t be a good future for youths like this in the next 60 years. Bribery and corruption everywhere,” Gunwa told FIJ.

Another vehicle owner, who had been waiting in line to also get fuel, said the fuel station was really “milking the fuel scarcity situation”.

“These people are making bastard money. Imagine they are able to collect N1000 from one thousand cars from morning till night,” he said.

“And he (Lawal) is even saying that they are meant to be dispensing fuel into cars and not jerry cans.”

Lawal was later seen telling a customer, who was kicking against the extra charges the filling station was demanding, to go and get his fuel from another filling station if he was not ready to pay the additional charges.

“So, these ones that are queueing offended God abi?” Lawal asked the customer.

“If you have a huge sum of mony to run your demand, the better for you.

“If you want me to sell for you without the charges, I can’t sell more than N2000 fuel. So, you make your decision.”

A Land Rover owner, who was two cars away from the pump, told FIJ he transferred N5,000 to Jamiu Lawal’s FCMB account so he could be attended to on time.

“This is their own time. This place is usually like that when there is scarcity,” he said.

Another attendant, whose pump was a stone’s throw from Lawal’s, was seen complaining about a woman who insisted she would not pay a N500 charge because she did not come with any jerry can.

“It’s only during fuel scarcity that residents and transporters come to the Eterna filling. Nobody lives on salary, even the President. So, nobody should be saying, ‘Shebi they are giving us salary,'” the attendant said.

“We know our customers and our customers know us. On some days some of them give us N100, on other days they give us N200. So, we know what we are doing. Don’t take us for fools.”

Fuel scarcity resurfaced in Lagos this week, leading to residents queueing up at fuel stations with their jerrycans and vehicles. The situation has also led to a hike in transport fares.

Dele Tajudeen, Chairman, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Western Zone, had on October 25 blamed the sudden increase in petrol pump price and scarcity to the recent hike in private depot prices.

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