Long queues have begun to resurface at petrol filling stations in Lagos State and environs, as residents struggled on Tuesday to buy fuel which has now become scarce.

The long queues of vehicles also resulted in serious traffic gridlocks, especially on the busy Ikorodu Road that accommodates retail outlets of major oil marketers such as Mobil, Oando, MRS, Conoil, Total and Forteoil, among others.

The same development was witnessed on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Lagos – Badagry Expressway and the FESTAC area, where desperate motorists searching for fuel blocked the free flow of traffic.

There was minor traffic hold up along the Oba Akran Road in Ikeja but the Mobil Filling Station on the route was locked up, as the fuel attendants were absent.

Oregun Road and other major areas of the Lagos metropolis were left out of the traffic gridlock.

Residents who spoke to our reporter on Tuesday said they do not know the cause of the latest scarcity.

Checks at many filling stations in Lagos showed that some of them that have the products have decided to hoard it, while some have jerked up the price from N97 to N100.

There are indications it might go higher if the scarcity persists.

Black market operators also had a field day, as they become the major suppliers of petroleum products to those who are willing to pay the price.

Those who could not endure the long queues resorted to buying from those who have the products in jerry cans on Tuesday. They sold a litre for as high as N120.

An oil industry player who spoke on the condition of anonymity in Lagos attributed the perceived fuel scarcity to the depletion of imported fuel on national reserve with Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC).

He warned that the scarcity may last for a long time if nothing was done quickly by the NNPC in settling the outstanding payment for fuel imports by the oil marketers.

When contacted on telephone in Abuja on the fuel problem, Acting General Manager Public Affairs of the NNPC, Omar Farouk Ibrahim, asked for time for him to get some details.

It will be recalled that the Executive Secretary of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Obafemi Olawore, before the end of 2013 confirmed that the Federal Government owed the marketers about N100 billion, noting that the money was outside the interests the marketers would have to pay their banks.

•Excerpted from Daily Independent. Photo courtesy of the same paper shows queue at a filling station . . . yesterday in Lagos.