By
Nicholas Ojo
President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Debo Ahmed, has attributed the petrol scarcity in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and its environs to the flood in Lokoja.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, earlier said the current fuel scarcity in Abuja and other surrounding states is caused by the inability of fuel trucks to have access to Lokoja roads.
The regulatory body said the roads have been flooded.
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The agency, however, assured that there is enough fuel stock and therefore appealed to members of the public to avoid panic buying as all efforts are being made to resolve fuel shortage in some filling stations in Abuja and its environs.
According to a statement from the agency, the Lokoja flooding has affected the distribution of petroleum products to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and environs as water has submerged a greater part of Lokoja city and grounded all vehicular movements, adding that as part of measures to mitigate the situation, “trucking via alternative routes is currently ongoing.”
But days after the flood has receded, the scarcity of the petroleum product has persisted in Abuja and its environs.
The IPMAN’s president in a statement has attributed the current scarcity to the break in supply of the product, stressing that there is a lot of product in the depots.
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“They (suppliers) have to up their load from the depots to meet up because as it is coming, people are buying. A lot of people are thinking there is still the issue (scarcity) so they will queue. It is not that there is no product, there is a lot of product in the depots. So, it is because of the break in supply of the product that is still causing the scarcity.”