LAGOS — Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited
said it was releasing, last night, about 13 million
litres, approximately 400 trucks, of petroleum
products including premium motor spirit, popularly
called petrol, to ease the scourge of the endemic
fuel scarcity that Nigeria had been plunged into.
The company will release a total of 70 million litres
in the coming days.
The move has, therefore, broken the ranks of oil
marketers and depot operators, who have refused
to import any more products until their outstanding
subsidy claims of over N200 billion is paid by the
Federal Government.
The marketers have now become jittery over the
development because they are now being exposed
as saboteurs, seeing they have enough fuel stock in
their depots but have refused to dispense them,
even as they are losing billions of Naira daily.
Long queue of jerry cans at a petrol station as fuel
scarcity bites harder, yesterday. Photo: Joe
Akintola, Photo Editor.
Long queue of jerry cans at a petrol station as fuel
scarcity bites harder, yesterday.
By Clara Nwachukwu & Michael Eboh
LAGOS — Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited
said it was releasing, last night, about 13 million
litres, approximately 400 trucks, of petroleum
products including premium motor spirit, popularly
called petrol, to ease the scourge of the endemic
fuel scarcity that Nigeria had been plunged into.
The company will release a total of 70 million litres
in the coming days.
The move has, therefore, broken the ranks of oil
marketers and depot operators, who have refused
to import any more products until their outstanding
subsidy claims of over N200 billion is paid by the
Federal Government.
The marketers have now become jittery over the
development because they are now being exposed
as saboteurs, seeing they have enough fuel stock in
their depots but have refused to dispense them,
even as they are losing billions of Naira daily.
Sequel to the general elections, the country had
been experiencing sporadic fuel shortages, until it
snowballed into a complete shutdown in the recent
weeks, thereby paralysing almost all social and
economic activities in the country.
Speaking, yesterday, about the sudden release of
the product at the Capital Oil Depot in Apapa,
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr.
Ifeanyi Ubah, told journalists that the move was
meant to reduce the pain Nigerians are experiencing
on account of the scarcity.
It’s sabotage
Ubah described the current crisis as sabotage,
saying: “We are constrained at this point and have
decided that two wrongs cannot make a right. We
will not be part of this sabotage against our
fatherland. Therefore, from this minute, we shall
take the risk of opening our facilities and commence
swift loading and distribution of products
nationwide.”
He also gave the assurance that once the current
stock is exhausted, there are vessels laden with
petroleum products at the jetty waiting to berth.
He said: “Our facility has the capacity to load over
13 million litres before dawn. This comes to
approximately 400 trucks of petroleum products.”
Urges other marketers to follow suit
Expressing the hope that normalcy will soon return
with the resumption of socio-economic activities,
Ubah also called “on other petroleum marketers to
follow suit and save our nation from this impending
economic and social crisis.”
He added that the current situation called for
patriotism and service, which is why the Capital Oil
truck park, port and depot reception facilities have
been opened and have commenced loading of
products and ordered to move overnight to every
state of the federation.
He recalled that operators were informed of the
shutdown of loading activities from the depots via a
text message on Saturday May 16, which became
effective on Monday, May 18
He noted that since then Nigerians have suffered
immense hardship, with petrol now selling at an all-
time high of between N500 and N1000 per litre
depending on location and outlet.
Marketers and black market operators have been at
their best in sharp practices, while the industry
regulator, the Department of Petroleum Resources,
DPR, is overwhelmed by it all and helpless to
sanction any one for infractions.”
Against this backdrop, the Capital Oil boss argued
that the way out of the current predicament is the
total deregulation of the downstream petroleum
sector.
Breaking of ranks
Other marketers and depot operators have
expressed shock at Capital Oil’s action, saying that
they will have to wait to see the turn of events from
today (Monday), to determine whether or not to join
the bandwagon.
A source among the independent marketers told
Vanguard on telephone: “For now, it may not be able
to join Captal Oil because we may not be able to get
the kind of security made available to him to pull
this off.”
He agreed that the marketers have enough
products to meet the demand, as many of the
depots already had ample stock levels before the
decision to shut down.
He admitted that the move by Capital Oil will be an
eye opener to other marketers with regard to
keeping agreements, as they are losing billions of
Naira daily due to the shut down.
Economic stagnation
Meanwhile, economic activities in Nigeria have
continued to wind down, as the fuel scarcity takes a
turn for the worse while power supply hit an all time
low.
A source in the NNPC told Vanguard that there were
disagreements by executives of the Nigeria Union of
Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, and
Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association
of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, in the meeting which
started about 3pm and was still holding at press.
The source, who chose to remain anonymous also
disclosed that some of the executives of both
associations engaged in heated arguments.
Furthermore, as a result of the strike, power supply
worsened across the country, dropping below 1,000
megawatts, MW, with most households enjoying
power supply for less than three hours daily.
Specifically, the Abuja Electricity Distribution
Company, weekend, sent text messages to some of
its customers, appealing for calm and
understanding over the worsening power supply
situation.
The company blamed the worsening electricity
situation to a reduction in its power allocation from
about 400MW to below 200MW.
To this end, anger, frustration and uncertainty
pervaded everywhere as Nigerians are of the view
that the Federal Government seemed unconcerned
about their plight.
The situation seems to have defied all solutions
while the Ministers of Power and Petroleum
Resources seem to have run out of ideas on how to
tackle the crisis.
The fuel crisis came on the heels of a disagreement
between the Federal Government and oil marketers
over subsidy payments, while it was escalated by
the strike of Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD,
NUPENG and PENGASSAN.
PTD’s strike was in solidarity with the oil marketers
over the delay in subsidy payments, while NUPENG
and PENGASSAN’s strike was due to the transfer of
operatorship rights in two oil blocks, OML 40 and
42, to local firms, Neconde and Elcrest.
The strike by NUPENG and PENGASSAN, in addition
to worsening fuel supply, also led to a disruption in
gas supply to power generating plants across the
country, thereby cutting power supply drastically.
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