The fuel scarcity situation in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. As of Saturday, March 11, fuel queues in the city are yet to let up as some residents are patronizing black market traders to fill their car tanks and their generator sets. Some filling stations are also locked up and black-market traders have taken over the streets, ready to sell fuel to desperate buyers. The black-market traders sell fuel between N450 and N500 per liter for cars and generators.
Growing trends
Some filling stations are rejecting POS payments: They insist on cash payments. According to Ose Lawani, an Abuja-based Lawyer who spoke to Nairametrics, he had to spend about 30 minutes or more trying to make payments for the fuel purchase he made on Friday evening at a filling station in Wuse district. According to him, the staff at the filling station insisted on cash payments and he had no cash on him. He had to plead with a man who had some cash and was willing to offer him over N10,000, which he paid back via online transfer.
- Vivian Nwosu who paid via online payment on Saturday morning told Nairametrics that she had to plead with the manager before she was allowed to pay using her Bank app. According to her, there was network challenges, and she spent more time at the station than planned.
Residents are searching for fuel from other districts: A survey of one of Abuja’s satellite towns, popularly called Nyanya, revealed that some residents must go all the way to satellite towns in Nasarawa state to buy fuel. John-Paul Madu, a Nyanya resident, said that although filling stations like Shema Petroleum along the Nyanya-Mararaba-Keffi expressway are selling fuel, they have long queues, so some people who cannot afford black market go all the way to Masaka in Nasarawa state, just to buy fuel for their cars and generators.
People no longer look at pump prices: Nairametrics noticed that many Abuja residents are no longer bothered about fuel pump prices. Sandra Okoh told Nairametrics that she personally did not care about the price and a lot of people don’t as well. She said:
- “That is how tired people have become over the recurring fuel scarcity. Nobody is talking about price anymore. Who cares about the price now? Just give us fuel.”
