Motorists and other consumers of petroleum products faced an agonising and unexplained scarcity in oil-rich Nigeria on Saturday, according to dpa. From Lagos, the business capital in the south-west, to Abuja and to Enugu and Awka in the south-east and Kaduna, Kano, and Bauchi in the north, motorists formed long queues that either ringed the fuel pumping stations or stretched for kilometres. State-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the major importer of petroleum products gave no reason for the scarcity in the country with imports petroleum products and four non-functional refineries. Profiteers in Abuja appeared to cash in Saturday, selling fuel at cutthroat rates, while Kerosene consumers were also affected as those who had stored the products made brisk business of selling at high prices. Motorist Paul Ndu suggest the long queues for fuel were as a result of panic-buying by those fearing the consequences of a possible strike called by the trade union umbrella body Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). The NLC has set Monday as the date for the commencement of a nationwide strike over the 15 per cent increase in the pump prices of petroleum products inflicted on the country by former president Olusegun Obasanjo. -- SPA
