Due to uncertainty over pump prices, NNPC stations and others closed, leaving motorists stranded

This comes amidst speculations that the state-owned oil company plans to raise petrol pump price from the current N617 per litre to above N1000.
As Nigerians continue to face hardship occasioned by the fuel scarcity across the country, several Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) stations in major cities were shut against motorists as the uncertainties surrounding pump price heightened Tuesday morning.
PREMIUM TIMES correspondents who visited petrol stations across major Nigerian cities Tuesday found that some of the stations were shut while others were besieged by motorcyclists, tricycle owners, as well as private and commercial drivers.
This newspaper also found that some independent stations were equally shut.
As of 8 a.m. no NNPC fuel station sold petrol to motorists along Lugbe Airport Road and Ushafa, Bwari and Central Business District in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
This is coming amidst speculations that the state-owned oil company plans to raise petrol pump price from the current N617 per litre to above N1000.
This newspaper found that Matrix filling station along Gosa road was opened but commercial drivers and other customers were not attended to. One of the pump attendants told PREMIUM TIMES that there is a directive to stop selling the product.
Similarly, at Mobil filling station located along the airport road, Lugbe, there was a long queue of motorists scrambling to get petrol. Shafa filling station, located along the airport road, was under lock and key Tuesday morning.
When PREMIUM TIMES visited Conoil filling station located beside the NNPC fuel station in Lugbe, a crowd of motorists struggled among themselves to buy petrol Tuesday morning.
An official at the Conoil filling station said: “We have not gotten any directive to stop selling. As you can see we are selling for N660. But it is just two of our pumps that are dispensing.”
When PREMIUM TIMES arrived at one of the NNPC outlets in Lugbe, the attendants had stopped dispensing to customers, but some of the motorists refused to leave the petrol station.
At the NNPC station located at the Central Business District, along GSM village, the station manager told PREMIUM TIMES that they were expecting “an order from above” before they could begin dispensing fuel.
“The way our leaders are controlling us in this country is so unfortunate. They just informed us this morning to stop selling the product because they want to increase the price. They are currently adjusting the price and as soon as they are done it will reflect on the pump,” the station manager said.
Many of the attendants who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES in some of the outlets explained that they declined to sell petrol in anticipation of a price hike Tuesday morning.
At Ushafa, Bwari, the pump attendant confirmed a directive from the headquarters to hold sales until further instructions which may either be an increase or decrease in pump price.
But as of 7.37 a.m. the pump price remained at N617.

Source: allafrica.com

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