Less than two months after the official pump price of the petroleum product increased from N97 to N120 per litre, long queues have returned again to filling stations in Owerri, the Imo State capital.
A litre of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) sold for N120 as at Sunday in Owerri and its environs, was now sold for N200 from black market traders, while a litre was sold for between N140 and N150 in any available filling stations following the biting fuel scarcity in state.
Along Okigwe, Port Harcourt and Egbu Roads, heavy queues were noticed in the few filling stations which opened for business in the town, while many of them were under lock and key. Most of the filling stations which opened were not selling to customers.
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, May 01, 2014 motorists struggled to buy the limited quantity of the PMS available due to what industry watchers called supply shortage.
Motorists and private users were seen waiting endlessly at the few filling stations that were selling the product in the city and its environs, while the gates of many other stations were shut against customers.
On Aba Road, there were long queues at the Chibyke and Frank-Gilly filling stations located along Mechanic Village and at Wetheral Junction by Aba Road respectively, on Wednesday morning when petrol was dispensed from only one pump each.
But between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, fuel was not sold in all the petrol stations
Similarly, there were long queues at the Ebere Links, a filling station located both at Item Street in Ikenegbu and on Port Harcourt Road, and other filling stations selling at what has become an official price of between N115 and N120 in the state.
The scarcity, which started in the state on Monday, left hundreds of motorists stranded at filling stations for most part of the day andWednesday and Thursday.
Our correspondent observed that the NNPC filling stations that were selling fuel at N97 at the Control Post in the city were overwhelmed by the queues.
The situation worsened on Tuesday as motorists and generator users resorted to panic buying as a result of the rumours of an imminent scarcity.
One of the motorists, Mr. Macaulay Duru decried the situation, saying “I’m just coming from Ondo State today and we bought fuel at the normal price of N97 there but here I bought for N125 and some are even saying I got it cheaper at that price. Why should there be such a huge discrepancy”, he queried.
An official of one of the filling stations in Akwakuma, Chippet Oil, who asked to be anonymous, told 247ureports.com they had been instructed to stop selling PMS. He said this was as a result of the continued shortage in the supply of the product from the main depots in Aba, Calabar and Port Harcourt.
