Iran Press/ Africa: In Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer country, fuel shortages led to a hike in the costs of living as public transport fare has increased by over 100 percent and caused a shortage of food.
The official price of petrol remains 198 Naira per liter, but people buy at the price of 400 Naira per liter from black marketers because most of the petrol stations in all parts of the country remain closed without fuel to sell.
According to The Independent Petroleum Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), the current fuel scarcity is a result of the unavailability of Petroleum products and difficulty in accessing foreign exchange marketers.
On Sunday, the Operation Controller of IPMAN, Mike Osatuyi, in an interview with journalists in Abuja, said: "The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd., had stopped importing enough petrol to meet demand in the country.
"We are experiencing scarcity because the product is not available. The price of a liter of petrol at private depots is currently between 205 Naira and 210 Naira as against 162.50 Naira, Osatuyi added.
NNPC Ltd. is the sole importer of refined petroleum products, which are not readily available to marketers,” he said.
But the masses believe that the inaction of the country's refineries and vandalism of oil pipelines by militants in the Niger-Delta oil-rich region remain the major causes of the PMS (Premium Motor Spirit scarcity).
According to the National Bureau of Statistics and the NNPC, Nigeria has relied the majority on petrol importation since the present administration of Muhammadu Buhari came into power.
The Government of President Muhammadu Buhari has spent over 16.9 trillion Naira on the importation of not less than 132.24 billion liters of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, despite the President’s campaign promises to halt PMS imports.
In an interview with Iran Press News Agency in Kano State, while in a long queue to buy fuel, Murtadha Amin Baba, a local engineer, said he was in the queue to buy petrol for hours.
He said: "Actually, my reaction is negative. As one of the oil-producing countries in Africa and the world, we're supposed to have much more fuel, and without queues so that we can have our livelihood easily, but as you can see here, there is not enough fuel for most of the citizens of the country. I see this as one of the negative effects of government."
Some people have spent 11 hours in the long queue. Another Nigerian citizen, Mohammad Bala Sani, who spoke angrily, believes that the only way to make government bring an end to the problem is for the masses should stand united for their rights.
"The fuel scarcity is very embarrassing. Could you imagine, the minister of Petroleum is the Head of State? He has been the minister since the start of this present government, that is Mr Buhari. He is the leader and the alpha and omega in all transactions and business of this country. But look at what is happening." Mohammad Bala said the problem would never be finished until the people came back to the streets and protested for their rights.
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