Euphemia Ojukwu
Several filling stations in Ogun State abruptly stopped selling Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) on Tuesday, following Dangote Refinery’s announcement that it was ready to release locally refined petrol products in “48 hours.”
Many motorists in Ijebu Ode were stranded on Tuesday as they could not get petrol for movement. Prime Business Africa observed that a number of them including; ZipEst, 5:30am, Felico, Adenuga, and GSM filling stations were not dispensing fuel to motorists.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelNigerian billionaire and owner of Dangote Refinery, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, had in a live press conference on Tuesday said his refinery was ready to release petrol, although he did not say if his product would be sold at a lower pump price.
READ ALSO: Dangote Refinery Rolls Out First PMS Products
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited-owned filling stations in some states had earlier in the morning halted sale of petrol and adjusted their pump price.
An attendant at ZipEst in the Irewon area of Ijebu Ode, said they were given orders to stop sales but failed to disclose who gave the orders. Stranded motorists were seen begging for petrol to be able to take their automobiles out of the stations.
For months now, residents in different parts of the country, especially Lagos, Abuja, Kogi and Ogun states have been grappling with petrol scarcity and high cost of the commodity often with long queues at filling stations. This has been linked to constraints in supply of the product to marketers by petrol depot owners.
Prime Business Africa noticed that some NNPC retail outlets in Lagos are now selling at N855 per litre, while other independent marketers are selling between N850 and N870 in Lagos while the pump price has surged above N1,000 in some parts of the country.
