By Olanlokun Sade Mary, Student of I-con Universal Polytechnic, Osogbo, Osun State.
The major problem facing Nigeria currently is the fuel scarcity which has been on going since early 2022.This fuel scarcity have caused alot of problems at every filling stations in the country, there are long queues of vehicles and wielding crowds struggling to buy fuel. People going to the filling station to get fuel have to queue under the hot sun to get fuel.
The pump of petrol which was selling between N162-N170 per litre prior at last year, but suddenly started moving up to N200 since the country had not recovered from the petrol scarcity, racketeering have ensured unavailability of the product till date. At this moment now,a litre of fuel is now N350 per litre depending on the location.The fuel scarcity has made life difficult for the citizens.
This fuel scarcity,which has lingered for months now continue despite the federal government saying it has sufficient stock of petroleum products for distribution across the country.”This experience of fuel scarcity is too harsh on us, Nigerians are suffering, and we pretended to be happy but we are not happy”. Nigerians have been suffering from unpredictable supply of fuel scarcity for nearly some months now,with filling station operating with a reduced capacity.
This fuel scarcity is becoming unbearable.The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation assured Nigerians that the long queues will end soon but still the same.”we are being deprived of what to suppose to get”
During my visit to one of the filling station i found out that many filling stations remained closed.Those who are selling petrol were clogged with cars as drivers tried to make their way in. filling station sold petrol at the prices ranging from N300 upward.
Many motorist do wake up early in the morning to the filling stations in order to get petrol but still yet they won’t get the fuel on time. They also relied on black market supplies for their fuel needs and have the risks of damaged engines.
At one of the filling stations in osogbo, there was a huge crowd at this filling station, as motorists struggled to buy petrol. A taxi driver at this filling station who also want to buy fuel says the situation at hand now is a very big problem for him because he can no longer feed his family as before due to the fuel scarcity,and he was a taxi driver who has to deliver each day because he is not the owner of the vehicle.
Frustrating and spreading fast, this fuel scarcity of a thing is now causing so much frustration and it’s becoming unbearable for we citizens. many people queued for over 6hours and there was no movement.”Honestly speaking this fuel issue has affected so many people negatively”.
This frustration is growing so fast in Nigeria,this fuel scarcity of a thing have caused a massive disruption and black. Similarly, to the ripple effects of the fuel scarcity as a result of rising transport fares in the city and it will be difficult for the importers to bring in there products with this rising pump price of petrol, Nigeria have been thrown into hardship as businesses and household that depends on generators for power supply are increasingly finding it difficult to get product.
The inadequate investments in the downstream sector can also explain the perennial fuel scarcity and the attendant long queues at filling stations across the country,despite the billions of naira spent on Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of our four refineries annually,still yet Nigerians are still battling with fuel scarcity.
We urge the government to please quickly end the lingering fuel scarcity before it becomes a national embarrassment and it is barely time to have a new leader, every effect must be made to end the scarcity of petroleum products and the government should please and let the petrol be made available at all filling stations at affordable price.Let new refineries be built and existing one’s.
