There was heavy traffic gridlock in some parts of Lagos on Monday as motorists formed long queues outside the forecourts of filling stations on what appeared may herald a fresh scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit.
Checks along the Ikorodu Road axis revealed how motorists endured an unusually heavy gridlock due to a long queue of motorists waiting to buy petrol at filling stations.
Also, the Total Filling station at the Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way had queues which led to heavy traffic around the Ikeja axis.
It was also noticed that many of the filling stations along the Ikeja axis, through Obafemi Awolowo Road in Ikeja were shut.
Meanwhile, some motorists had begun to hike the prices of their fares due to the development.
A commercial transport operator plying the Unilag-Jibowu axis in Yaba said that he was forced to hike his fees after waiting for hours to buy fuel.
The commercial transport operator, who refused to disclose his name said, “Do you know how long it took me to buy fuel today? Anybody who doesn’t want to enter should stay out.”
It was also observed that all the filling stations along Oba Ogunnusi Road inbound Berger did not also sell petrol to customers.
It is not immediately clear why fuel queues have resurfaced in Lagos.
Meanwhile, it was gathered that the queues were noticeable in major filling stations considered to be selling at lower rates.
It was observed that a number of filling stations owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway did not dispense fuel too.
The National Vice Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Hammed Fashola, said he was aware of the queues in some filling stations in Lagos.
However, Fashola said the queues might be due to panic-buying on the part of customers.
“I am not in Lagos as we speak. But I heard about it too that there are queues in Lagos. It may just be panic buying. I am not sure there is fuel scarcity. People are just panicking. However, I will find out what the problem is,” Fashola said.
