JUST IN: Oil Marketers Increase Fuel Price Amid Worsening Scarcity

Oil marketers have increased fuel prices amid worsening scarcity.

Some filling stations have started selling a litre of the product for between ₦800 and ₦1,000, which has increased the cost of transportation.

But other gas stations weren’t selling the merchandise because black market rackketeers were taking advantage of the circumstances to make quick cash.

The President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Association of Nigeria, Mr Festus Osifo, has identified reasons for persistent queues in filling stations across the country.

Speaking at the ongoing 2024 PENGASSAN Energy and Labour Summit in Abuja on Thursday, Osifo identified weak and outdated distribution chains as a reason for the queues.

“The distribution chain is weak in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry. That is why today, you see queues in most of the stations. The problem may be solved today, but it will resurface tomorrow.

“Nigeria’s distribution chain is outdated and insufficient to meet the demands of its large population. There is no country in the world as big as Nigeria, with our population, that relies on a single point of product importation and uses trucks to distribute across the nation,” he said.

NAN reported that Osifo also attributed insufficient supply of fuel across the filling stations in the country to bad roads and flooding, leading to scarcity.

The PENGASSAN president called for urgent reforms to address the challenge.
He also called on the government to develop and strengthen the country’s value chain to ensure a more efficient and reliable distribution system.