Fuel scarcity has become synonymous with our dear nation Nigeria.

With it comes the attendant issues of people suffering so much before they get fuel for their cars, bikes and generators.

These problems are usually as a result of people taking poor decisions as to properly import, distribute, subsidize or sell fuel to the populace.

One of the decisions that have come to worsen an already bad situation is that which filling stations readily bandy about that the regulating body; Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) barred them completely from selling fuel to buyers buying in gallons for their generators.

It sometimes becomes common sight at filling stations seeing queues of generators waiting to be filled with PMS (Prime Motor Spirit).

A lot of conflict had arisen between customers and station attendants and managers about this directive they say came from DPR.

A personal experience I had recently was the attendant telling me “oga we no de sell for gallon”. I politely told him “quarrel no de am. Oyaa advise me how I go buy for my generator”. He insisted not to sell and I insisted he advised me. He got tired and sold to me.

I felt bad because the masses are going through a lot and such laws should not come and make things worse for them.

I decided to get across to DPR and an official who spoke with me on the condition of anonymity told me that “Well, the directive has been on for long to prevent hawking and black market and even fire hazard during the days of consistent scarcity”.

But he admitted that it’s really hard on the masses especially those who need to buy little quantities to power their generators especially this period that electricity supply is very erratic.

He promised that their office is working hard to get across officially to the filling stations to make them sell in small gallons to those who need for their generators.

But in the interim, he advised that filling stations should use their discretion to sell to those who are not going to resell or hoard the product. For instance, sell a maximum of 5 or 10 liters per buyer.


Culled from www.naijacarlovers.com