Fuel Scarcity: Marketers Divert 140 Trucks Of Fuel To Cotonou

Over 140 truck-load amounting to about 4.62 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol meant for Lagos did not get to filling stations for which they were meant, Saturday Telegraph has revealed. Investigation by Saturday Telegraph showed that marketers have, in the last 10 days, diverted the volume, which was scheduled to be off-loaded majorly in filling station in Lagos and environs into havens including border towns between Nigeria and Republic of Benin.

This has continued to subject government’s efforts to end the long queues to further jeopardy and worsened the fuel scarcity rocking Nigeria, especially the lingering acute shortage of the product in Lagos. Further checks showed that part of this diverted product also in the last ten days landed in some suburb of Lagos and Ogun states “where the product can conveniently be sold at cost above the pump price without harrasment from DPR or protest from motorists.”

The Loading schedules of all the major depots and seven indigenous depots in Apapa showed an average cumulative loading capacity of 200 trucks daily. But due to the shortfall in fuel importation by the NNPC, a major marketer revealed after his anonymity was guaranteed that, “depots in Apapa are doing less than 100 due to shortage of product for thruput.”

He said: “Major marketers, except MRS, are doing their normal loading; no extra-loading, whereas the seven independents that are being used by NNPC for its thruput scheme, have instruction from the minister and GMD to be doing extra loading.

An independent marketer who preferred to be anonymous justified the diversion in a chat with Saturday Telegraph. “We are in business my brother and truth of the matter is that we do not buy at the ex-depot price in Apapa. Aside from this, motorists in Lagos are troublesome; they will not only refuse to buy above the pump price but also cause problems for any station that attempts to sell above the price.

“We have complained and nobody comes to our rescue. So, it makes more economic sense to buy at above ex-depot price with Lagos ticket and resell to another station which will be able to sell above the pump price-of course they are usually at Lagos and Ogun states’ suburbs and as far as border towns between Nigeria and Benn Republic,” he said.

Asked how many truck loads were diverted daily, he said: “Between nine and 14 trucks but this will depend on the demand for its at the market.” Spokesperson for the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mrs. Dorothy Bassey, could not be reached on phone when our correspondent called her mobile phone number. She did not also respond to an SMS sent to her for clarification on what the DPR is doing to stop product diversion and profiteering by some marketers.

The DPR, an agency saddled with regulatory and enforcement responsibilities, has recently been quiet on its activities to check hoarding, profiteering and diversion of the product.

Advertise here