Residents of Abuja, Nasarawa, and neighboring states continue to endure long fuel queues at filling stations despite assurances from Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to increase supply.
For the past week, motorists in these areas have complained about the lengthy waits to purchase fuel. This situation has persisted at filling stations along the Kubwa Expressway, Airport Road/Lugbe axis, and Nyanya-Jikwoyi Road.
Many filling stations are selling fuel at prices above N700 per liter, while NNPCL retail stations offer it at N617 per liter. As a result, transport fares in the nation’s capital have risen, with the fare from Airport Junction to Kubwa increasing from N500 to N700, and from Berger to Kubwa rising from N500 to N700, as reported by DAILY POST.
Benjamin Olatunji, an Abuja resident, expressed frustration over the recurring fuel shortages in Nigeria. “It is frustrating. We keep having scarcity in a country that produces crude oil. I have been in the queue for nearly three hours but have yet to get the product,” he lamented.
Rukiyatu Adamu criticized the addition of fuel queues to the existing economic hardships faced by Nigerians. “Honestly, Nigerians may be pushed into the Kenya situation if the economic hardship continues unabated. I can imagine a country producing crude but importing its by-product, fuel. To make matters worse, we keep having the issue of fuel scarcity. It is terrible, to say the least. I practically spent my whole day at the NNPCL filling station along Kubwa Expressway on Monday,” she said.
Meanwhile, the NNPCL has urged motorists not to panic buy or hoard fuel. In a statement by the company’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, on Monday, the looming scarcity was attributed to logistics and flood challenges. “Loading has commenced in areas where these challenges have subsided, and we are hoping the situation will continue to improve in the coming days and full normalcy will be restored,” NNPCL stated.
