Fuel scarcity: Plenty queues, plenty pain in Port Harcourt

The ongoing scarcity of petrol is causing pain to people in more than one way. Besides the high cost of getting the product to power electricity generators, translating to shortfall in services and hunger, residents must now suffer hardship in order to commute through Port Harcourt.

A litre, when available, is sold for N130-N140, especially at filling stations belonging to independent marketers. Given the desperation that attends efforts by consumers to fill their tanks, and cheaply too, frustrating queues are always present at stations, like NNPC and Total, where the price remains the official N86 per litre.

On the average, these stations dispense fuel twice or thrice a week. And when they do, the flow of traffic in the areas takes a turn for the worst. Buyers, having formed the normal queue, are joined, later, by impatient motorists, who create additional queues, and then the more impatient others, who squeeze the frame of their cars into every available space. With a sizeable chunk of the road already taken, hapless passers-by are forced to bear the brunt.

Investigations by The Guardian revealed that men of the police, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Civil Defence Corps often look the other way during such traffic bottlenecks. Some police officers may also have keyed in to the situation, to make extra cash. Rather than jump into the fray and control the traffic, they opt for a rewarding lie-in-wait for vexed motorists who drive against the traffic in order to beat the mess. The take home, per catch, is N3,000-N5,000!

Currently, there are no local council chairmen in the state. The government also dissolved caretakers recently. Besides, the councils’ task forces are dysfunctional, a situation that is turning the city into a jungle of some sort.

Two major roads in Port Harcourt, Aba and Ikwere, are usually the worst hit. Last week, Forte Oil on Aba road, Total on Ikwere road, and NNPC along NTA road, sold petrol for N86 per litre. Consequently, the entire areas were gridlocked, with ripples spilling to nearby suburbs, as motorists tried out alternative routes.

On Aba road, near Forte Oil, The Guardian sighted five officers from Okoro police station who did nothing to solve the traffic jam caused by indiscriminate queuing at the station. They parked their van at the middle of the other lane, waiting to trap motorists moving against the traffic. It worked. Five vehicle owners were taken away to their station.

Voicing his displeasure over the situation, a clergyman, Rev. Umesi Akachukwu, regretted that a distance of less than 10 minutes often lasts as long as an hour, due to gridlock precipitated by the queues. Another driver, Simeon Frank, wondered whether government has gone to sleep. On her part, Mrs. Agnes Okorie said: “If the fuel crisis is not addressed sooner, the state and the country may sink into a pool of lawlessness.”

But Port Harcourt Zonal Operations Controller of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mrs. Chioma Njoku, said the agency is doing its best to ensure petrol is distributed effectively, stressing that it is the mandate of the police, FRSC and other security agencies to control traffic.