FIJ
Nigeria began the week with panic over news of a potential fuel shortage, a situation many Nigerians fear but have experienced at one point or the other.
As expected, the people of Lagos and Abuja took steps to store some fuel, but some petrol stations halted operations.
PANIC BUYING AND CONGESTED FUEL STATIONS
Panic buying is expected during fuel scarcity, and the situation was not any different now. Citizens were seen in different petrol stations with 25-litre kegs.
At Timac Petrol Station, Maryland, long queues of cars, up to Stanbic Bank, about three kilometres away from the station, were observed. People were seen with kegs hanging around the station. The buyers would still not leave at about 4 pm, when the station had closed for the day. At 3:58pm, there was still a long que of cars, with the occupants either asleep or nowhere to be found.
The situation was the same at Ardov PLC (AP), Vitality Oil and Gas and MRS, Ikeja.
LOCKED GATES, STRANDED CUSTOMERS
To control the situation, some petrol stations locked their gates and allowed only cars and people with kegs in. Timac and Total Energies, Maryland, took this measure. At AP (Ardova PLC), Ikeja, the situation was entirely different. No one was bared from going in, even though the queue stretched beyond the gate of the station. A petrol attendant told this reporter that although the station sold normally, they would soon shut down.
