Who’s to blame for the persistent queues at filling stations?
The perennial fuel scarcity usually experienced in Nigeria surfaced in February through allegations of importation of adulterated products. Since then Nigerians have been spending more than five hours on queues to get fuel for their cars and domestic use on a daily basis. PAUL OKAH went to town to speak with a cross- section of Nigerians on why the queues have persisted despite government’s assurances.
FG to blame
The fuel scarcity is a calculated ploy by the federal government to remove subsidy. It baffles me that, almost a month now, the scarcity still persists. Today, I bought a litre of fuel at the rate of N260 in a filling station in Wuse. I was surprised, but had no choice because my tank was already on reserve. What worries me most is the fact that you spend more time on queue at the station and then buy the fuel above the approved pump price.
To make things worse is the fact that the meters are already tampered. Even if the fuel is N200 or N250, the marketers should try and make it available and stop hoarding the product. The federal government is entirely to blame for the inability to resolve the issue since last month. It is already turning dangerous as many Nigerians have started as a result of many issues involving fuel scarcity. Last week, news broke of a couple dying in an inferno in Kwara state as a result of hoarding fuel in Kwara state for sale to those buying from black market. That is the situation we are facing now. So, the federal government must intervene in curbing the menace.
…Tammy Dappa, civil servant
APC, PDP to blame
There is nothing like politicising fuel scarcity, the major problem of this country are the two evil parties of the same people called APC and PDP. Anybody in these two parties should not rule this country again come 2023, because they are visionless, corrupt and destructive. They have made life miserable and frustrating for Nigerians since the military relinquished power to them. You can imagine, our three refineries have not been working since the APC and PDP came into power and till now they are still deceiving themselves that they will do better for the country. If Nigeria must move forward, then no body from these two parties should rule us again. Also, the APC government should stop telling Nigerians how many litres they have as if they have solved the problem.
ASUU strike has been an issue for the past 17 years now. People can’t buy fuel easily. They queue and struggle with their own money at filling stations. What a shame. I am highly disappointed in our leaders. They have failed us woefully in this country. Fuel scarcity, hike in the price of diesel from N370 to N700 within two weeks. Kerosene price is also increasing every day. We are experiencing high cost of living day by day.
We don’t need promises, but actions so that people can buy fuel in peace and move on with their lives. I advise Nigerians to grab their voter cards ahead of the 2023 general elections. The nation can’t continue to import fuel and pay huge subsidies that we can readily refine in the country in view of the volume of crude oil at our disposal. Why can’t the rehabilitation work at Port Harcourt be given priority to solve the problem of importation that has continued to squeeze the nation dry and put the poor masses in prolonged suffering? This fuel scarcity has hurt our socio-economy psyche and made life difficult for the commoners.
…Rita Adebayo, ICT expert
Nigeria retrogressing
Who cursed Nigeria with this perennial fuel scarcity? Our leaders are entirely to blame for the long queues experienced in filling stations across the country. The situation is getting out of hand. Just on Sunday afternoon, I stumbled on a thief who snatched a lady’s phone while waiting on a queue to buy fuel at a Total filling station in Mabushi. The thief was chased after by boys selling fuel in the black market just in front of the filling station, but he managed to escape. That is one of the negative things that have been brought about by the fuel queues.
Our leaders talk as if we don’t have crude oil and gas to sell in this country. There is nothing like fuel subsidy. It is the name used to loot our treasury by politicians. President Buhari is still the petroleum minister, but selfish Nigerians are still looting the country dry. Looting is in plain sight in the fuel scarcity issue. They want to use subsidy to enslave the masses in Nigeria. I ask again, who cursed Nigerians with this fuel scarcity being experienced in this country? Oil price was low, so the APC government complained that the low oil price did not allow it to achieve anything. They justified borrowings to fund budget and still blamed Goodluck Jonathan.
Oil price is now high, but they are still complaining, blaming everyone else and still seeking to borrow money from Europe. Just like the PDP, the APC government is made of politicians addicted to criminality, corruption and out to punish Nigerians and loot the country dry. To me, the major issue about fuel scarcity is corruption. They destroyed the oil sector with corruption. Buhari has been minister of petroleum for more than seven years now and NNPC has been completely decimated. They cannot even make profit again. No revenue returns. They still pay subsidy, but the price of fuel is still increasing daily. We are really retrogressing as a country.
…Yusuf Bello, lecturer
Things getting worse
There is no need asking about who is responsible for the fuel scarcity and long queues at our filing stations, because it is clear that government is failing us. Look at electricity. We do not import electricity. We generate it within the country and export it. Do we have steady electricity in the country? No. Corruption has destroyed Nigeria. They privatised electricity, but to whose benefit now? Look at cooking gas. We have enough and we liquefy it and export to other countries, then flare the rest. Do we have cooking gas to cook? No.
Nigeria is inherently corrupt and wicked to its citizens. Nigeria has been sent back in time, 100 years behind, due to corruption. How about the high cost of diesel? People are not saying anything thinking that they don’t buy diesel, but unknown to them most trucks and trailers that transport foodstuff use diesel. Diesel is now N700 per litre. We should expect higher food prices soon. However, if we can survive food inflation, skyrocketing exchange rates, and high cost of living for seven years, Nigerians would also survive the few months of the current hardship.
Ending fuel scarcity is common sense and not a big deal. Even a madman in the streets knows what will end fuel scarcity in this country, but politicians are just selfish and wicked. It is agreed that we shouldn’t politicise the scarcity of fuel, but of all the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which of them exports crude-oil and imports fuel? PMB as part of his campaign promises in 2015, promised to make our refineries work again at full capacity, how far has gone in fulfilling that promise? Finally, for the fact that NNPC is major importer of fuel in Nigeria, the GMD, Mele Kyari, Timipre Sylva and the Minister of Petroleum should resign because that’s what they are saddled with to do, but they appear to have failed in their duties. But the set of individuals that are at the helms here are just passing the buck.
…Jennifer Chukwu, activist
Corruption affecting issues
The Minister of State for Petroleum cannot account for the total quantities of fuel consumed in Nigeria per annum. The figure is not available till now. They cannot balance their accounts and when asked by the Senate committee, they said they would need to re-work it. Everything about fuel subsidy in Nigeria is a scam. You don’t need subsidy to import the product. We have oil and gas. Oil and gas business is like trade by barter. You exchange a quantity of oil and gas for the refined products. If they don’t want it that way, you exchange it for money. You will only talk of subsidy in petroleum products in countries which do not have oil or gas. They want to remove something which does not exist, in an attempt to inflate price of petroleum products for the citizens.
Subsidies have been steadily increasing, irrespective of global oil prices during this APC regime. When the price of oil was low, they complained that subsidy was high because the price of oil was low. When price of oil became high, APC still complained that the high price of oil drives subsidy high. How many times has this APC govt increased the price of petrol in the past seven years? Have you compared the pump price of fuel in 2015 when Buhari took office to what it is now?
The same countries, which sell petroleum products to us, still buy oil and gas from us. What sense does it make to pay extra in cash to the same people who sell the refined to us? People have been questioning this issue of subsidy for a long time. For example, if a country wants to buy 50 barrels of oil from Nigeria, we can tell them to refine 30 barrels for the price of 10 to 20 barrels, depending on the negotiation. Why is Nigeria pulling money from the treasury in form of cash to pay them? This is why people are angry. We all know what is going on. They simply share the money among themselves, using the name subsidy. Corruption is actually deeper and more complicated than I stated. Some of those refineries in Benin Republic and Niger are owned by the same Nigerians who now fuel subsidy as a singsong.
They destroyed Nigeria’s refineries so that they can keep “subsidy” alive. In the past seven years, NNPC has only made returns two times to the federation account. NNPC no longer makes profits. Corruption is keeping subsidy alive. If you must kill subsidy, Nigerians must pay for it. This fuel scarcity has turned into something else. It is difficult to go about carrying out one’s daily activities due to the short supply of fuel. Those people selling black market fuel in my location sell five litres of fuel at N2, 500. That is to say their litre is N500, and in some fuel stations, their litre is N170, N180, and even N200, with long queues. This difference is too much. The federal government should do something on this issue without delay.
…Peter Akpan, businessman
PDP govt to blame
The PDP government is to be blamed for the mess we are facing as a country today. The money PDP borrowed, what did they use it for? $2.2 billion was shared amongst PDP chieftains. The $500 million that President Buhari just paid, which PDP borrowed in 2011, what did they use it for? Corruption has reduced, at least the brazen type we saw under PDP. Infrastructure wise, Nigeria hasn’t had it so good; perhaps, since the era of the military. Our airports are world-class; many federal roads were and are still being built. Our railway has been woken from death. On the economy, Buhari may have faltered here and there, but PDP didn’t make any deliberate effort to re-jig our economy when they needed to and that led us to where we are currently.
There is a serious problem in Nigeria. Diesel is N750, kerosene N650 while petrol is N250 and above. People are suffering. There seems to be a conspiracy by the authorities to make Nigerians suffer. Imagine that in the midst of the fuel scarcity and long queues the national grid has collapsed, leaving Nigerians in total darkness. Hardly will you have two hours of power supply in a day in Abuja, let alone other places that are not even used to steady power supply. Apart from that, the water boards are no longer supplying water as the velocity has drastically reduced. I just don’t know where we’re headed as a country. It’s really a matter of concern. Let the concerned authorities do the needful.
…Favour Nathaniel, teacher
