The federal government has announced that ships bringing Premium Motor Spirit will continue to dock at the shore to unload petrol at different depots, which will then be distributed to various gas stations.
This step is being taken to resolve the ongoing fuel shortage that has left Nigerians queuing for long hours at filling stations across the country.
The Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria stated that its members in Apapa and other areas of Lagos received 300 million liters of fuel from eight ships this week.
The South-West Regional Coordinator of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority confirmed that in addition to the 240 million liters unloaded at depots on Monday, nearly 85 million liters of petrol were unloaded by Tuesday evening.
As of Wednesday afternoon, it was noticed that roads in Ogun, Lagos, and other areas were empty as vehicles queued up at filling stations to purchase fuel, the PUNCH reports.
In addition, the limited number of filling stations that had fuel were selling it at prices that were seen as excessively high.
A member of the NMPDRA, Cardoso, emphasized in an interview that the product would be widely available throughout the country soon, stating that the government is working hard to ensure widespread distribution of PMS.
Cardoso revealed that additional vessels will be arriving in Nigeria over the next two weeks, starting on Monday. This will result in a continuous supply of petrol to filling stations.
He explained that each state in the country has been allocated its share of petrol, which will be delivered to help reduce the long 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 prioritizing anywhere, each state has its allocation to be delivered accordingly,” Cardoso stated.
