Lagos: Fuel scarcity worsens

For many Lagosians, the Easter holiday has been hellish following the fuel scarcity, which is biting harder by the day. It worsened on Thursday after the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, declared that the scarcity may remain till May. In Lagos, many filing stations were under lock and key, while only a few stations were seen dispensing.
 In Ojodu, Agidingbi, Maryland and Alausa, among other areas in the state, many people were seen going about with jerry cans in search of fuel, while a few filling stations dispensing the product were filled to the brim with motorists, as well as with buyers who wanted to buy inside jerry cans.
All the filing stations, including an NNPC outlet along Ogunnusi Road, Ojodu, were not selling when our correspondent visited. The stories were not different on Lateef Jakande Road, where many motorists also queued at a filing station and along the Oba Akran Way where the filling station on that road was not dispensing fuel at the time our correspondent visited.
 There was also traffic jam on roads connecting the few filling stations where the product is being sold. This has been the situation in Lagos for the past few weeks that the nation has been experiencing fuel scarcity as motorists scramble to buy the product in the few filing stations leading to commotion and, in some cases, exchange of fists.
A filling station close to the local wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA) was observed dispensing fuel yesterday, resulting in a traffic snarl in the Airport Road/Ikeja Along axis.