Residents of Kaduna State, North West Nigeria, have expressed worry over the lingering scarcity of petrol across the state as they decry its effect on economic activities in the state.
The non-availability of the product has created long queues at the few filling stations that are selling.
Those opened for business are selling above the approved pump price while black marketers have capitalized on the situation to rip the public.
Only few petrol stations opened for business on Sunday as a result of no petroleum products to sell and those on the queue are not even certain that they’ll be lucky enough to purchase the product.
Some residents who spoke to Channels Television lamented that the scarcity of petrol, insisting that it has drastically affected their economic and social activities.
Spokesperson for the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Kaduna zone, Mr Rabiu Bello, attributed the scarcity to the inability of the Federal Government to fulfil its promise to pay the arrears of the subsidy claims to marketers.
He said that this situation, coupled with the suspension of production at Kaduna Refinery for quite some time, forced the marketers to suspend the sale of petroleum products.
Mr Bello further explained that the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) relies solely on the few bridging that comes from the southern depot to supply states in the North, a situation which he said drastically affected the distribution of PMS to the state and environs.
Channels TV Correspondent in Kaduna State reports that virtually all filling stations in the state capital have not been dispensing the product since the start of the week due to the drop in supply to the state.
He said that the daily delivery to the state had dropped from 50 trucks per day to as low as 22 trucks daily, noting that the difference is a far cry when compared to the huge demand of the product by residents of the state.
He further reported that many petrol stations sold the product as high as N130 per litre against the regulated price of N87, as it remains difficult to get the product because of the queues in front of the stations.
The DPR said there was nothing it could do to, except to ensure that the few supplies to the state are adequately distributed and sold to the public at approved pump price.
The residents, however, called on the Federal Government and the incoming administration to find a lasting solution to the challenges in the oil and gas sector, in order to ensure that all petroleum products are made available to the public.
