Commuters in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, were stranded as petrol scarcity bit harder.
Our correspondent observed that major roads to the Abuja city centre were crowded as residents spent hours there waiting for vehicles.
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They complained that they could not get to their places of work on time.
Andrew Ogbemudia, a resident of Maraba, a suburb of Abuja, said: “We’ve to stay at the bus stop for hours to get a vehicle.”
Another resident, who simply gave his name as Samson, at the Jabi Park, said he had been standing on the road close to 30 minutes waiting for a taxi that would convey him to Wuse Zone 4.
A civil servant, Rosemary Okeke, lamented: “When I came to the bus stop, I found so many people, it was really hectic; I just hope that the government will do something about the situation.”
Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has blamed the current petrol scarcity in parts of the country on low loading of the product from the depots.
Most stations have remained shut in Abuja, Kano and Lagos.
A statement on Sunday by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Department of NNPC, Garba Deen Muhammad, said: “The NNPC Ltd notes the sudden appearance of fuel queues in parts of Abuja. This is very likely due to low loadouts at depots which usually happen during long public holidays, in this case, the Sallah celebrations.
“Another contributing factor to the sudden appearances of queues is the increased fuel purchases which is also usual with returning residents of the FCT from the public holidays”.
The NNPC said it had taken steps along with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and marketers to ramp up loadouts from all depots.
“We assure all residents of the FCT, and indeed all Nigerians, that we’ve ample local supplies and national stock in excess of 2.5bn litres, with sufficiency of more than 43 days.”
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