Across the country, queues continue to form in front of filling stations as Nigerians groan over fuel scarcity. Over the past few weeks, queues appeared in Lagos, Abuja and other cities, leaving people waiting hours to get fuel at retail prices.

The situation has ingrained frustration in customers, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the sole importer of the product, has come under fire.

On Monday, the company claimed it was addressing the issue and would resolve it by Wednesday, but rejected the notion that it owed $6.8 million to oil traders.

NNPCL recognised the role black marketers were playing in taking advantage of the situation and declared war on them.

This, however, wasn’t the first time the federal government was doing so over the recent problem.

Two days earlier, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) threatened to freeze the licences of marketers hoarding the product. They also said no one should sell the product in jerry cans. Meanwhile, marketers say they are not hoarding the product.

NO FUEL

As the NNPCL, regulators and retailers shifted blame, FIJ called Zarma Mustapha, Deputy Chairman of the Independent Petrol Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), on Monday. Mustapha did not take our calls, but we were able to reach Ekom Idemudo, the secretary of IPMAN’s Akwa Ibom State branch.

In a telephone interview, Idemudo told FIJ the marketers did not have the product because they could not get allocations from NNPCL.

READ MORE: Business Booms for Black Marketers as Fuel Queues Return to Lagos

“Some of us buy from depots,” he told FIJ. “Today[Monday], the depots that opened sold the product for N880 per litre, and to transport it to a filling station in Uyo would raise the price to anywhere between N900 and N950.

“It will be N900 if you have your trucks, but if you don’t have your trucks, you would have to rent one, hire a driver and pay for landing. That takes the price up to N950 for cost price. So, when we sell for N1000 and above, it is not our fault.”

Idemudo said the marketers would usually buy directly from NNPCL, but not everyone could get allocations so some buy from depots. However, only a few depots had the product, and the prices were high.

“To afford it, some of us come in twos or threes to buy a full 45,000-litre tank. We split it and sell but, by the time we want to buy new stock, we realise the prices have changed again. We then go to banks for loans, but not all of us get successful.”

According to him, the marketers are not hoarding the product but are victims of a lack of the product.

THE SUBSIDY DEBACLE

“Fuel Subsidy is gone,” President Bola Tinubu declared when he took the oath of office on May 29, 2023.

The decision was shortlived as Nigeria resumed paying subsidies just three months later. On Monday, a report by TheCable confirmed Tinubu approved the NNPCL’s request to use 2023 final dividends to offset petrol subsidy payments.

This report claimed the company went to the president in June to say it would not be able to continue importing the product unless he signed off on the plan to draw subsidy payments from the accrued dividends.

Tinubu gave his approval on June 6 but, two months later, there are still queues all over the country. If the NNPCL and depots continue to lack enough to satisfy marketers’ demands, the queues may not go anywhere anytime soon.