Fresh petrol scarcity has hit Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos.
Many petrol stations are currently shut down and not dispensing fuel in the city and the struggle had started since last weekend, Naija News observed.
Several cars and commercial vehicles have been packed on the road since the scarcity loomed.
It became more serious as unusual long queues of vehicles at various filling stations in Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki were noticed as residents spent longer periods trying to buy the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol. 
Gridlocks have been reported also in Ojodu-Berger to Lekki, Gbagada, Alapere, Oshodi-Apapa axis, Ajah, Sangotedo, Mile-2, among others.
At some stations, the long queues have spiralled into the major roads making vehicle movement even more difficult after getting the fuel.
There are insinuations that the sudden increased demand for fuel is due to a power outage following a fire incident that led to the shutdown of Nigeria’s largest power plant, Egbin, from the national grid, last week.
However, despite improved power supply across the city yesterday according to reports, just as in other places, there were long queues on Awolowo road in Ikoyi, which caused gridlock along the axis.
Naija News understands that the situation was different on the mainland part of Lagos as queues were barely noticed at filling stations monitored. This posed a challenge for motorists and commuters resuming their daily activities after the weekend break.
Heavy traffic is also witnessed along the Lekki-Epe Expressway, including Sangotedo and Victoria Garden City (VGC) axis.
On the Island (Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Obalende axis), only a few stations had supplied with manageable queues. It was the same situation along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Some commuters resorted to trekking long distances to get to their destinations, while commercial transporters took advantage of the situation to hike transport fares on busy routes. The fare from Ajah to CMS, which, ordinarily, was N400, was hiked to ₦1,000.
Meanwhile, some of the stations have resolved to attend only to customers buying in jerry cans for the black market business.
Reports made available by The Guardian revealed that there were no queues at filling stations in Mushin, Isolo, Ejigbo, Ikotun and environs.
Reports earlier had claimed that petrol scarcity currently being experienced in Lagos is due to the current effort by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to recall harmful imported petroleum products.
According to sources, most of the petrol imported into the country under the Direct Sale, Direct Purchase (DSDP) contract has a high content of methanol and ethanol, which are outside the official specification of Nigeria’s petrol. “This product is highly harmful to the market,” The Guardian quoted a source as saying.
A senior official in the downstream sector, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed the development, adding that NNPC is currently doing a product tracing to contain the harmful implication in the market.
“Nigeria should not be doing business with companies with a bad reputation in the market. The implication is very cruel on the consumers of these products, most especially Lagosians,” he stated.
The post Gridlock In Ikoyi, Berger, Lekki, Others As Fuel Scarcity Hits Lagos appeared first on Naija News.
