Prior to the 2009 Christmas holidays the issue of petroleum scarcity raised its ugly head once again in Nigeria, if it were as a result of neglect, improper administration, unavailability or artificial scarcity we Nigerians are yet to find out what left one of the world biggest producers of petroleum to be trapped once again in this crisis.
Analyst has referred to many of the factors listed above as the cause of this ugly trend, some has blamed it all on the minister of petroleum for traveling during the Christmas holidays against the order of the Vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who is 'ceremonially' holding brief for Mr. president who recorded has 63 days of disappearance from the presidential villa.
The unavailability of these products may have its root cause to be best known to our leaders/'stakeholder' in the industry. Records has shown that various contributions being made by stakeholders as to way forward has always been circumvented to resort to predetermined decisions. Here I will discuss one major factor; RETAIL OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS.
I have observed that petrol stations in Nigeria sale products for a limited period of time under the peak hours of business activities, so there is this drama of having long queues of vehicle waiting to buy the product at various stations, these long queues has consequently given rise to other societal disorder like heavy traffic jams, assaults to mention but a few, most of the time you find these vehicles on the fuel queue are occupied by drivers while the owners are somewhere doing their normal daily business. My question is, how does an average Nigerian who works from 7am to 6pm, has only one vehicle and don’t have a driver, buy this product.
It is based on the foregoing that the writer was prompted to suggest as a way forward that petrol stations should be under obligation to sell products on a 24 hours basis, it is not enough to say this but it is important to note that the major impediment to the marketers selling for like 12-15 hours bounces on security concern. Therefore it forms a complimentary task on the side of Government to provide adequate security to all such locations where these products are sold during this extra period. This will go a long way in improving the distribution of the product to end-users.
As the Government plans towards deregulation I pray the federal Government to make sure that all necessary structures be put in place before deregulation is implemented, to save Nigerians from agony,
the local refineries has been observed by key players in the industry (MOMAN,IPMAN,PTD,PENGASSAN) as a basic structure that must be put in place before deregulation can be positively implemented, this was also acknowledged by the Petroleum minister Dr.Rilwan Lukeman during the downstream oil and gas sector stakeholders forum held in Lagos on the 14th of January, 2010.
These are some comments made by Nigerians at the petrol stations:
Black market
Fuel is available on the black market - at four times the official price.
For those who have more money than time, this is the only option....Anonymous
"I came as early as 7:00 o'clock this morning so that I would be able to buy fuel.
"Thank God, I was able to make it at last," said Lanre Ogini, a 36-year-old engineer who finally filled up after a four-hour wait.
"It is like the Abacha dark days are here again," said Celestine Orji, remembering the regime of late military ruler General Sani Abacha.
As we all work towards a society that will be free from constant fuel scarcity and less dependence on importation of refined petroleum products, I urge all Nigerians to support the 24hours sales of products at petrol stations to ease the burden of an average Nigerian.
LONG LIVE THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA!
