Lagos — Most Nigerians are sure about one thing; they have not heard the last about the crippling fuel shortage under which the country has laboured for over three weeks now.
Along the busy Itire Road, in the densely populated suburb of Surulere, not one of the five petrol stations had fuel to sell. Enquirers were either politely told "No Fuel" by idle attendants, or simply left to deduce that for themselves.
Not even a press statement, hurriedly put out Tuesday, by the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), that imported petrol had started arriving at the country's ports, could erase the people's sceptism. If anything, the statement only served to confirm popular opinion that the real cause of the scarcity is insufficient supply of the products.
NNPC officials have strongly denied that explanation, instead blaming the shortage on distribution difficulties. The Corporation blamed members of the Tanker Drivers Association, a member of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), for the scarcity. It said strike action by the drivers caused the shortage.
But as the shortage dragged on, it became obvious there was more to it than just transportation difficulties. On Monday, Prof. Jerry Gana, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, speaking in Abuja, said Nigerians should prepare their minds for an imminent deregulation of the petroleum sector.
Quoting the recommendations of a Special Committee on the Review of Petroleum Products Supply and Distribution, Gana said deregulation was the panacea for the ills of the sector.
Gana and some members of the committee carried his crusade to Lagos Thursday night. Speaking to journalists here, he said deregulation of the industry was not just about price increases, but would "enhance and encourage the participation of the marketers and third parties in the importation of products."
Government set up the committee in the middle of last year,after the mass protest that greeted its attempt to raise prices of petroleum products by 50 percent. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the country's umbrella labour organisation, led the protests, which paralysed the public sector for nearly two weeks.
Now, the NLC says it can see government's hand in the current fuel scarcity, accusing it of manipulating supply to create artificial scarcity, and thereby justify price increases through the much-vaunted deregulation of the sector. The labour movement has vowed to resist any such move.
Other opposition has come from the Federal Legislature. Nduka Irabor, a member of the House of Representatives, says proposed price increases are being based on a "wrong premise."
"It is regrettable that the executive arm of the federal government is, against all expressed opinion, planning to increase fuel prices once again. What makes this even more painful is that the reason for the proposed increase is based on wrong a premise,' he said in statement issued Thursday night.
The shortage of products has boosted illegal activities in the oil sector. NNPC on Thursday issued a statement warning consumers of the danger in buying 'scooped', or illegally stolen fuel, being sold as household kerosene in areas near Abuja.
The Corporation said some people had vandalised its pipelines and scooped up products it was pumping to the Kaduna Refinery, for blending into Premium Motor Spirit, the high-grade petrol. It said although the product has the same colour with kerosene and might therefore easily be mistaken for the popular cooking and lamp fuel, it had a lower temperature flash point and could explode if used in the kitchen or in lamps.
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The theft from the pipeline happened even as the death toll from several, serial kerosene explosions in Benin City, Edo State, continued to rise this week. The explosions, which started about two weeks ago, have killed about 30 people, mostly women and children, and left more than 300 injured.
Pipeline Products and Marketing Company, the subsidiary of NNPC responsible for products marketing, said after a test that the product being sold as Kerosene in Benin City had a flash point close to that of petrol. It denied claims by tanker drivers that the product was taken from its depots.
