Oil marketers strike hits Abuja hard, long queues return

Long queues have returned to filling stations in Abuja with few of the outlets dispensing petrol to motorists following a fresh fuel scarcity in the nation’s capital and neighbouring states.

This is coming about one month after petrol distribution and sale eased up and motorists and other fuel buyers could get go to most filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory and environs to buy petrol.

But a new report by The Punch on Wednesday said the petrol scarcity and its attendant long queues became noticeable on Tuesday. And this was said to be due to a warning strike embarked upon by the Suleja Depot Branch of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria since Monday.

The oil marketers commenced the three-day warning strike on Monday as they stopped their members from lifting petrol from the depot to more than five states in the North including Abuja.

It stated that the two filling stations in front of the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Conoil and Total, were shut on Tuesday. They said they had no product to dispense.

Black marketers in front of the filling stations and opposite the NNPC headquarters however had a field day, selling at exorbitant rate to desperate motorists.

Spokesperson for the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Kimchi Apollo, for instance, did not answer his telephone calls when contacted. He did not reply a text message sent to him on the matter either.

The Punchreported on Tuesday that Abuja, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Kogi, Niger and neighbouring states might encounter another round of PMS scarcity following the commencement of a three-day warning strike by the Suleja Depot Branch of IPMAN.

Members of the union commenced the strike on Monday in protest against the continued indebtedness of the Federal Government to oil marketers with respect to the payment of fuel transportation costs, otherwise called bridging claims.

The IPMAN Suleja Depot Branch Chairman, Yahaya Alhassan, said marketers had stopped the supply of products from the depot, as the union had prevented trucks from moving PMS to the northern states.

He said marketers were withdrawing their services until the Federal Government settled their outstanding bridging claims of N50.5bn.