FEATURE: NIGERIA AND FUEL SCARCITY

            7am that was the time I left my home in search of fuel. Since I needed to keep track of the news other blogging activities, I had no choice but to. PHCN on the other part have not be reliable these days. At about 10 am, I finally got 10litres of fuel selling 130 naira. But I realized it was 3litres short. I got home feeling angry, my day had barely started but it already felt ruined.

These ordeal and many more have been the pains of most Nigerians since the past 1 month. Fuel scarcity rearing its ugly head again. It’s almost now a yearly phenomenon. How shameful can it get?

How can a country blessed with so much crude oil, 7^th largest in the world keep having this problem and the worst part is, every time it happens, the government seem clueless as to the cause or how to solve it. Be it deliberate or otherwise, it is really shameful. I wonder how they manage to keep their heads up when they are among other committee of nations.

Businesses across the country are shutting down because without electricity, there is little an entrepreneur can do. Traffic is hell these days no thanks to the long queues that stretches all the way from the filling stations into the roads. And if you’ve never appreciated the fight against ‘global warming’, I bet by now you must do. So you see, life has been a living hell for the common man in Nigeria no thanks to fuel scarcity and once again I am still at lost just how the largest crude oil exporter in Africa got to this point.

Nigeria has an installed refining capacity of 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day, barely enough to meet the demands of the public. We still rely on some so called ‘marketers’ to meet our demands. Importing about 70% of the refined products and costing the country around $62 billion as at 2014. An amount huge enough to put its four refinery back to shape. So why has it been difficult to do this. Why can’t we fix or upgrade these refineries to meet our daily need, so we don’t have to import refined fuel.

For every barrel, the government pays at least $8 to subsidize it. A fee I think is just a scam because right now and even before the scarcity we have been buying fuel at pump price way above 84naira per litre. To end this madness, that’s what I call it, Subsidy has to go because it’s obvious the so called marketers are ripping the country dry and butting us in a quagmire whenever they feel threatened. There have been widespread rumour of mismanagement and corruption involving these marketers, removing fuel subsidy and freeing up funds will do a lot of good to the government since it said we are broke.

 Some school of thought have argued that the effect of the removal will hit Nigerians hard as fuel will be selling for above 300naira per litre and even more depending on market fluctuations. Be that the case, we are currently buying fuel between 150 to 300 naira in some places right now. Some Nigerians are buying at black market for a whopping 1,500 naira for 5litres.

 The truth still remains that Nigerians won’t mind as long the fuel is readily available and also there is a sincere promise from government to use the money to good use and make sure the price drops over time.

One thing is clear, with the marketers having a huge say in how petrol is dispensed, fuel scarcity will surely persist. The ultimate responsibility therefore lies with the government to take a decision and find a lasting solution to this shameful problem once and for all.

As the scarcity bits even harder, the government should be aware that one key reason the previous administration was voted out was as a result of its lack of truthfulness and will power. So Buhari administration should be truthful to us, and not telling us NNPC has enough fuel for the nation but then the scarcity seem unending.

If the marketers are the problem like the government said, then he should take a decision quickly and not make Nigerians suffer for it. Buhari’s Government has the whole support of Nigerians, but they should know, it’s only a matter of time before that support is called into question and moments like this are fueling that call even further.

                                                                              By Georgia Johnny