Abuja petrol stations record low fuel queues

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The long queues that recently characterised most fuel stations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) eased off on Wednesday with most of the stations selling the product.

A correspondent of the News Agency Nigeria (NAN) who monitored some of the fuel stations in the city centre, reports a significant reduction in cars that queued for the product in the area.

NAN reports that in the Total fuel stations at Area 11, there was free entry and exit of vehicles as motorists had free access to the petrol station while fuel attendants dispensed petrol without hitches.

Mr Emmanuel Onaja, a taxi driver at the station, told said he was surprised to see the sudden disappearance of queues at the station.

He said he had to call some of his colleagues who had parked their vehicles for lack of fuel to come to the station.

Onaja commended the Total station for its consistency in dispensing the product.

“Any time you come here in the day, this filling station is always selling; they are not like others that specialise in hoarding fuel to sell to hawkers at night,’’ he said.

He attributed the disappearance of the queues to a recent directive by the Federal Government to sanction fuel stations involved in fuel hoarding.

At the Fort Oil filling station in Maitama, motorists were seen waiting patiently to buy petrol without the usual rush and traffic witnessed in the past days.

A fuel attendant, who pleaded anonymity, said the reduction in the queues might be connected to the recent visit by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources to some stations.

At Con Oil and Total filing stations opposite the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) tower in Central Area, it was observed that fuel queues had also reduced.

The significant reduction in fuel queues was also witnessed at the Total fuel station at area 3, NNPC mega station in Central Area and Total in Wuse Zone 4.

Alhaji Masure Kalgo, a legal practitioner at the Total fuel station in Zone 4, attributed the reduction in queues to the constant supply by NNPC.

He also attributed the situation to the recent meeting between the NNPC and the oil marketers.

The marketers had pledged to assist in ending fuel queues across the country.

The NNPC has repeatedly announced that there is no reason for Nigerians to indulge in panic buying.

NNPC in the last week has continued to supply millions of liters of petrol on a daily basis to fuel stations through its various depots in the country.

Source: TheGuardian