Fuel scarcity: Marketers receive 58 million litres

The lingering fuel scarcitywhich hit had on the entire countryin the last fourdays, may easy up this week.
Fuel Scarcity— Motorists queuing for fuel in Abuja, yesterday
Vanguard learnt that the58 million litres of fuel promised by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, have been released to major marketers.Confirming the development, Mr. TaofeekLawal, Head Corporate Affairs of NIPCO Plc told Vanguard that they have starteddispensing the product
“We are part of the 58 million litres allocation. I don’t have theactual volumereceived by NIPCO, but we were given togetherwith Aiteo. In fact, we have starteddispensing. We are even doing a marathon night loading tomake sure we reachall our customers. Weare always ready to serve them,” hesaid.
Efforts madeto reachAiki Odianwe, Head Corporate Affairs of Aiteowere not successful as her phone was switched.
However, most of the filling stations visited by Vanguard were closed to customers, while few that openedwere besiegedby motoristswho formed long queues to get theproduct. Conoil, MRS, Total, Acorn and Oando stationsat Alapere area of Lagos were closed, while Oando and Conoil station at Marina, Lagos, were open with long queues ofbuyers, which resulted in the trafficsnarl that engulfed the area. At Mobil and Fortestations on Moloney Street, Lagos Island, there was also traffic jam, as motoristsstruggled to get fuel.
Motorists claimed that they bought a litre of petrol at N100, as against the approved pump price of N87.The situation has createdan opportunity for “black market”to thriveas fuel hawkers make brisk business. Vanguard learnt that in such areas Ogba and Agege, two litres of fuel sold for N250.