Massive loading of petrol commences in Apapa

dimeji akinloye

April 7, 2016 9:21 PM

Report said the vehicles were sighted at Capital Oil, Folawiyi, NIPCO, Aiteo, Mobil, Rahamaniya, De Jones and Integrated Oil loading points.

The accident caused a massive traffic gridlock on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway

Over 1,000 petrol tankers were monitored loading fuel on Thursday, April, 7, in Apapa,

Report said the vehicles were sighted at Capital Oil, Folawiyi, NIPCO, Aiteo, Mobil, Rahamaniya, De Jones and Integrated Oil loading points.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachickwu, had on March 29, assured Nigerians that the lingering petrol scarcity would be over by today, April 7.

Although, the situation in Lagos as today was no different from the previous days as long queues were still still recorded at filling stations across the state with many of the stations still selling way higher than official pump price.

According to NAN findings, some of the depot owners who preferred anonymity disclosed that workers have been compelled to do 24-hour massive loading of petrol since April 5 to ease the scarcity.

The depot owners said that the deadline set by the Minister for fuel queues to disappear today (April 7) might not be achieved.

According to them, most trucks that load in Apapa do not only serve Lagos metropolis but also travel to other states in the south-west.

“We are faced with logistics challenges in loading some of the trucks because some of the marketers who are in joint vessel allocation delay in clearing their lines.

“The vessel which was meant for three marketers takes longer time to discharge due to some hitches of discharging into their storage facilities.

“Another challenge has to do with clearance from the Navy, PPPRA, DPR and other agencies in charge of inspection to ascertain marketers who are going to be paid on subsidy schemes.

“It is easier to discharge to a marketer than joint allocation of many marketers. This is another cause of delay in loading of the product,’’ they said.

NAN also reports that as at 10 a.m. on Thursday, long queues of tankers dotted the service lanes of Apapa Oshodi expressway, from Cele bus stop to Ibafon jetty.

dimeji akinloye