Bayelsa State has recorded fuel scarcity with long queues of vehicles at filling stations around the state capital, Yenagoa, and its metropolis.
‘Daily Independent’ correspondent, who went around town on Wednesday, observed that the shortage in supply of petrol had spiked the pump price of the petroleum product in the state.
It was gathered that a litre of fuel was sold for N170, N185, N195, N200, N215 and N250 per litre at various filling stations operated by independent marketers.
A visit to the NNPC mega station along Sani Abacha Express Way, however, showed that a litre of petrol sold for N162 and this resulted in a long queue of vehicles.
Consumers were seen with different sizes of jerrycans scrambling to buy the product at the facility.
It was observed that some of the petrol stations along the ever-busy Mbiama-Yenagoa Road and the Isaac Boro Express Way did not open for business on Tuesday and Wednesday, and consumers are suspecting that they might be hoarding the product.
A few black markets were, however, sighted along the Isaac Boro Express Way selling a 10-litre jerrycan of fuel for N2,000 and 20 litres for N4,000.
The shortage of fuel supply in Bayelsa has worsened the condition of Yenagoa residents as most parts of the city had been suffering power outage from the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) for weeks.
When contacted, the state chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Erefaghamote Peters, said “fuel scarcity is everywhere.”
He, however, said the situation may not last long as efforts were ongoing to restore normalcy in the supply of petrol.
