NIGERIA: Fuel scarcity in Port Harcourt

It came like a thunderbolt and literally took the entire Port Harcourt landscape and its environs by storm. It started manifesting Monday, the beginning of the working days. Before anybody could visualise what was the matter, its impact had started been felt by residents. Queues had equally started emerging at the various petrol stations scattered around the Port Harcourt metropolis and its environs.

When it actually became manifest that something was wrong was early Monday morning when the gates of virtually all the filling stations were under lock and key. From Rumuigbo, Rumukrushe and Eleme junction to Waterlines, Garrison, Elekahia, Trans Amadi, Ogbunabali through the Port Harcourt main town, Lagos, Marine Base and Borokiri, the story was the same as no filling station was opened for business.

Although the NNPC mega station situated at the Lagos bus stop was actually selling fuel and other petroleum products, the crowd of people including motorists, artisans and other users that had besieged it was unprecedented. The queue that the situation subsequently threw up became unbearable and intolerable.

And the message was clear. Fuel scarcity had actually hit the busy city. If people actually thought that the Monday experience was a child