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Scarcity (3)

Petrol scarcity hits Lagos and Abuja as Fire rages in Murytala Mohammed Airport

Posted by Akin Osunlaja WebLagosian on March 18, 2011 at 11:00pm

 

Petrol scarcity has hit Nigeria's capital, Abuja, and the nation's commercial capital, Lagos, as long queues were noticed at some filling stations on Friday. When NEXT visited the NNPC MEGA station on Olusegun Obasanjo way in Abuja, both private and commercial motorists were seen struggling to fill their tanks. A petrol attendant who simply identified herself as Esther said "petrol tankers are on strike". In Lagos also, many motorists were seen in lines for fuel.

 

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It was confusion on Friday at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos as a fire outbreak at the eight floor of the terminal made hundreds of passengers and airport users scramble for safety.

 

The fire, which affected the equipment and control room of the airport, was noticed by witnesses at the airport around noon, and lasted for a few minutes before the arrival of the fire fighters from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

 

"We were standing here when we saw a thick smoke coming out of that room upstairs and we had to raise alarm so that people will evacuate this place before any harm is done," said Stephen, a traveler at the terminal.

 

According to this eyewitness, the incident necessitated a "mad rush" out of the airport terminal, as people hurried outside the airport in order not to be caught in the flame.

 

 

Movements in and out of the airport was however, highly restricted by the Aviation Security personnel of the airports authority, as they provided specific assistance to the team of fire fighters.

 

The situation was calmed within minutes, but Akin Olukunle, the public affairs manager of the airports authority had his phones switched off, and was not available at his office to respond to the press on the development.

 

Meanwhile, Supo Atobatele, the public affairs manager for the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) disclosed that no harm was done to the equipment in the control room, adding that the prompt arrival of the fire fighters saved the day.

 

The spokesperson for the agency commended the arrival of the team and noted that the ambulance from the airports authority was in place should there any form of casualty.

 

"It is electrical spark from the distribution box in the equipment room. The spark did not affect our equipment. Flight operations were not affected. We are now on uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)," he said..

 

"It did not affect the tower from doing its job. Engineers from FAAN and NAMA are already working on it.''

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Meat Scarcity in Lagos from Fuel to President scarcity .Brief Relief lands for lagosians

Posted by 9jabook.com on March 16, 2010 at 2:48am
Yesterday, Lagosians got some relief as beef made a return to their meals. This is because the cattle sellers at the Lagos State Government Abattoir Complex, Oko-Oba in Agege, allowed the animals they had in stock to be sold and slaughtered, after the Cattle Dealers Association (CDA) and Food Stuff Merchants' Association of Nigeria reportedly suspended their seven-day warning strike over the weekend.jpeg&STREAMOID=ABkBie89WAeVBFA_JddE5S6SYeqqxXXqBcOgKOfTXxQGjaD5SzKqxNtVpHXuukQcnW_PgxgftuECOcfJwS6Jtlp$r8Fy$6AAZ9zyPuHJ25T7a9GKDSxsGxtpmxP0VAUyHL6IDcZHtmM2t7xO$FHdJG95dFi6y2Uma3vSsvPpVyo-

Beef and tomatoes became scarce since early last week as the transporters, who brought them in from the northern part of the country, stopped transporting the commodities into the markets in the South-West region due to what they called the ‘exorbitant taxes and levies' imposed on them by the state officials. Although the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, on Wednesday, attempted to persuade the striking cattle transporters to resume their trade immediately, the strike stretched into the weekend, causing residents to resort to alternative options.

Comeback beef

However, it was a welcome cacophony of meat hacking and price haggling as hundreds of cattle were slaughtered at the Oko-Oba Abattoir, even if it was still above the usual price. This place had been devoid of activities since last Tuesday as no cattle was killed there. The northern cattle traders allowed the sales because, as We gathered, it was becoming too expensive to feed them, while the negotiations continued.

"The cattle owners said they didn't want the cows they brought in to die for nothing," a butcher, Akeem Alake, said in Yoruba. "They said the money they were using to feed them was too much so they are selling them off." The butchers, however, complained that they were buying for far above the normal market price.

The pace of work at the meat market was markedly higher than normal, as butchers, porters, knife carvers, and drivers of meat delivery vans tried to make up for lost time. However, an old hand in the market, Mumeni Ashipa, called for caution.

"With the rate at which people are buying and killing these cows, the whole thing may finish before night, because, as I'm talking to you right now, no truck has entered Lagos yet. All cattle you are seeing here are those brought in before the strike and they cannot last more than today," he said.

We found very few tomatoes, pepper or beef for sale over the weekend and Monday at the markets in the Agege Local Government Area. When found, the price was too high for consumers.

"The tomato seller said two (fruits) for fifty naira," a bachelor, Ayo Oriola, said. "I couldn't buy it, so I'm going to buy tin tomatoes and turkey wings now."

Paying too much

A cattle trader, Quaseem Olushola, who brings in his animals from Gombe, said he supported the strike. He said it costs him more than 300% to pay officials for his cargo to pass through states in the south than in the north.

"A trailer will carry maybe 30 to 50 cows and the state will collect N10,000 as ‘Veterinary money" from us, no matter how many is in the trailer," he said. "In the north, they collect about N1, 500 but once we get to Kwara (State) we begin to pay big money."

Reports say the state government is currently trying to meet the demands of the traders to forestall a repeat of the action
culled from NEXT
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Fuel scarcity bites harder - Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Ibadan, other cities worse hit

Posted by 9jabook.com on November 2, 2009 at 11:16pm
MOST of the major highways in Lagos metropolis and other cities on Sunday, recorded an unusually low vehicular traffic, as fuel scarcity bit harder across the country. advertisement In Lagos, most fillings stations closed their gates to customers with the few selling recording long queues of motorists. As usual, illegal petrol hawkers have resurfaced at some strategic locations, some close to the filling stations, where miscreants extort as much as N100 from each motorist before allowing them access to buy fuel. While the illegal hawkers sold the commodity for N1000 for 10 litres, neighbourhood retailers sold a litre for N104. There was pandemonium at the Total retail outlet at Ogba, about 2 p.m. when some motorists tried to resist some boys at the College Bus-stop gate end, who insisted on the being tipped before allowing the customers into the filling station. They eventually had their way as the customers paid the N100. However, most motorists expressed frustration over what they described as an artificial scarcity, alleging that many of the outlets had fuel but refused to open to customers for two days running. There was palpable fear that the scarcity could worsen today, when most workers are expected to resume for duty after the weekend. Nigerian Tribune observed that only one out of the 10 filling stations on the Isolo-Ikotun Road offered skeletal service to customers, who spent more than two hours on the queue. Virtually all the filling stations on Oshodi-Apapa expressway as well as from Anthony to Maryland and Bank-Anthony Way did not open to customers. But it was a rowdy situation at the two stations on Agege Motor Road in Mushin that sold fuel to customers. The current fuel scarcity was triggered by speculations that the Federal Government would make good its plan to deregulate the oil sector from November 1 (Sunday). But the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) have tried to ally public fears on the matter, with the latter warning against the ongoing panic buying of fuel. The spokesman for the Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Paul Osu, told the Nigerian Tribune on Saturady that there was no disruption in supply, as there was fuel in most filling stations. He said, “ I think people are just scared of possible fuel scarcity because of the Federal Government’s former intention to start deregulation tomorrow. People are just involved in panic buying, we are not really foreseeing any scarcity, I think people just want to be prepared in case of possible scarcity. Investigations by the Nigerian Tribune also revealed that some filling stations around Ikorodu took advantage of the situation to sell petrol at N80 and above per litre, while some hoarded the product in anticipation of scarcity tomorrow. People also bought the product in various containers in order to store it in their homes to beat the scarcity. The NNPC said in October that it had enough fuel that could last for six months should marketers refuse to import. The spokesman for NNPC was not available for comments when one of our correspondents called him on the phone on Saturday. As tension continues to mount over the planned deregulation of the downstream of the oil industry by the Federal Government which has led the long queue at filling stations in some part of the country, the Speaker of House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, on Sunday described the government’s position as a challenge Nigerians would have to face. Bankole in a brief interview with airport journalists on arrival from Johannesburg, South Africa, said the challenge posed by the planned deregulation was a bitter pill Nigerians would have to swallow. His words: “Well, whether we like it or not, there are some challenges in the oil industry we must face. If we do not face it today, we will have to face it in the future. And the challenge is raising revenue for government, which by extension is for the country, to enable government to develop its many projects accordingly.” The speaker, who condemned the current panic buying by some people, said it would not bring solution to the problem. He said the National Assembly would continue to work hard to ensure that those that would be adversely affected by the deregulation were looked out for and looked after. The Speaker declared: “We have to sit with labour, sit with the executive arm of government, the minister of petroleum, and civil servants as well as other stakeholders to work out a plan to make sure that things at least go on well.” Asked on how he felt in the two years of his leading the nation’s lower house, the Speaker only said; “we thank God for everything,” as he went straight to board the presidential aircraft which took him to Abuja. Meanwhile, the price of the product has gone up from N65 per litre to between N100 and N150 litre in some filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. According to the Nigerian Tribune’s investigation, black marketers have taken over the distribution and supply of fuel in some places visited by our corespondent. While major marketers are still selling their product at N65 per litre in Abuja metropolis, the Nigerian Tribune investigation showed that some independent marketers sell their product at between N100 and N150 per litre. In all the fuel stations visited by our correspondent, it was apparent that fuel was being hoarded. Instead of them selling fuel from all the selling points, it was observed that fuel was being dispensed in one or two selling points leading to long queues in all the fuel stations. A motorist, who simply identified himself as Mr. John, said he had been at the Conoil filling station located on the Airport road since his return from church but could not get fuel as of 5.30 p.m. when he spoke with the Nigerian Tribune. At Kuje, headquarters of Kuje Local Government Area, black marketers and roadside fuel hawkers were having a field day as only one out of the five fuel stations located in the area had fuel to sell to the people. The manager of the station, Mr. Musa Haruna, told the Nigerian Tribune that the Federal Government had stopped those who used to supply them fuel from fuel importation in anticipation of the proposed deregulation of the downstream oil sector of the economy. Because of the limited supply from the NNPC, Haruna said there was no way there would not be fuel scarcity as demand for fuel was now higher than supply. Though the NNPC is yet to make statement on the latest of scarcity, the Nigerian Tribune source, however, accused the fuel marketers of hoarding, adding that the corporation had enough supply to distribute till the end of the year. Also, hike in the prizes of petroleum products is still biting hard in Enugu the Enugu State capital, investigation by the Nigerian Tribune has revealed. While a litre of fuel sells for as much as N90, kerosene is sold at N150 per litre depending on the consumer’s place of residence. It was learnt that while major marketers are selling a litre of fuel for N65, independent marketers were selling for N80 per litre, making motorists to queue up before can purchasing the product at fuel filling stations owned by independent marketers. Away far from the state capital, the prizes are higher with a litre of fuel selling for between N90 and N100.
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