Fuel Scarcity Hits Lagos, Abuja

Motorists and residents of Lagos, Abuja, Kwara and Oyo states are having hard times getting fuel at the filling stations as the nationwide strike embarked upon by oil workers has led to scarcity of fuel in some major cities in the country.

Long queues are seen at different filling stations. Motorists now pay between N105 and N135 for a litre of fuel as opposed to the N87 recently announced by government. In fact, at some filling stations, it is sold for as much as N200 per litre.

Francis Johnson, President, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria,PENGASSAN, said the unions had issued a 15-day ultimatum to the government before embarking on the strike action.

“After the expiration of the ultimatum, we also engaged government agencies and the international oil companies, but it was not fruitful. We don’t like Nigerians go through what is going on now,” Johnson said.

However, Dorothy Bassey, head, Public Affairs, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, said meetings are still going on to resolve the issues raised by the oil and gas workers, who have vowed to continue the strike until their grievances are addressed.

The workers are protesting the failure of the government to carry out turnaround maintenance of the nation’s four refineries, the non-reduction of pump price of petrol in line with the slump in global prices of crude oil, the delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill as well as the non-implementation of the Oil and Gas Industry Content Act.

As the federal government makes effort to make the unions sheathe their sword, commuters, motorists, and businesses will continue to experience hardship.