By Kabiru Dogon Daji
Birnin kebbi
The lingering fuel scarcity has paralysed economic activities in Kebbi state as the situation has now forced motorists to park their vehicles.
Investigations conducted by Blueprint revealed that barely two months ago the state began to experienced shortage of the commodity for failure of the Independent Petroleum Marketers to transport petrol from the Lagos loading depots to the state.
Similarly, over 90 per cent of the filling stations within and outside the state capital, Birnin Kebbi, have been closed down, while only two stations, Oando and Basaura, sold the commodity at N130 per litre.
Also, only one NNPC Mega station on Birnin Kebbi-Sokoto road was fully operational and selling at the official pump price of N87, even as it takes motorists several days to obtain the premium motor spirit.
It showed that in the state capital Birnin Kebbi a gallon now sells at N1200, while a jerry can sells at N6, 000.
A cross-section of motorists, who spoke to our correspondent, described the situation as “an act of sabotaging,” alleging that it was the handiwork of people of the last administration who “now are frustrated and have no other way to fight back other than to cause artificial shortage.”
“They want to discredit the present government by causing the shortage because they own the deports, but we are not bothered; let them go ahead and do want they want, all we know is that they are not credible people we can trust again and that was why we voted them out,” Alhaji Shehu Malami said.
In his response, the North/West zonal vice-chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Muhammad DanTilla Jega, explained that the problem was from the loading depots in Lagos where only three out of the over 60 of such depots were operational, while the rest had closed for shop.
He alleged that members of the association were buying above the official pump price of N76, adding that “how much will be the profit after you transport it to the final destination and DPR will want you to sell at official pump price, so nobody want to run business at a loss that is why we down tools until the situation improves.”