The Federal Government has initiated a 15-day emergency fuel distribution to ensure widespread availability of the commodity amidst escalating fuel scarcity nationwide.
Furthermore, the government announced that Premium Motor Spirit vessels would persist in docking at the shoreline to unload gasoline into diverse depots, enabling subsequent distribution to various filling stations.
The Major Marketers Association of Nigeria stated that its members in Apapa and other Lagos locations received 300 million litres of fuel from eight vessels this week.
Despite the May Day holiday, Naijaonpoint observed persistent queues at petrol stations and deserted roads in Lagos and neighbouring areas on Wednesday.
Several vehicles were lining up for fuel, prompting some drivers to wait parked for availability. The few stations with fuel available were selling it at inflated prices.
However, in an interview with the Punch correspondents, the South-West Regional Coordinator of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMPDRA), Ayo Cardoso, insisted that the product would soon be available across the country, saying the government was doing its best to ensure massive distribution of PMS.
Cardoso revealed that additional vessels would continue to arrive in Nigeria over the next two weeks, commencing from last Monday, with a focus on ongoing petrol distribution to filling stations.
He mentioned that each state of the federation has its allocations, emphasizing that these allocations would be promptly delivered to alleviate the queues at filling stations.
“As I said earlier, there would be enough fuel across Nigeria soon. We have received over 300 million litres as of Tuesday. More have arrived as we speak, but I can’t give you the figure. Vessels will keep arriving in Nigeria for 15 days, which started counting on Monday, and we will keep distributing the product across the nation.
“The masses should not panic; all these will soon vanish. We are not prioritising anywhere, each state has its allocation to be delivered accordingly,” Cardoso stated.