INTRODUCTION
Just like water and air is important
to the living human being for daily duties and a hitch – free survival, the
importance of fuel to automobile cannot be over looked. A typical
situation is in the cases halts because of the fact that there is shortage of
fuel. The importance of fuels in this our developing and technically
inclined economy is fast like the mixture of oil and salt as far as the economy
forgets growth as one of its goals. Fuel is used in a variety of
activities ranging from production, mobility, cooking, electricity, supply,
sources of foreign exchange, to mention but few, to this extend, one would
accept that fuel plays a tremendous role in the live of every citizen of the
country and the country as a whole.
However, in recent times, there has
been a rampant shortage in the availability of the commodity. It is on
this basis that the researcher intends to evaluate the causes and effects of
fuel scarcity in the Nigeria economy, but shall concentrate on Enugu urban as a
case study due to time and financial constraints.
EFFECTS OF FUEL SCARCITY
According to Longman English
Dictionary, fuel is a form of energy, fuel is a form of energy used for the
energizing of the machine used for production. In that case, its scarcity
will affect the living standard of the people in various ways:
a. It increase the cost of
transportation
b. Social unrest
c. Electricity faults
d. The cost of food item and living
e. Adulteration of fuel and so on
The effects of fuel scarcity in
Enugu metropolis cannot be over emphasize for its is one of the very prayer for
the entire economic attribute to more about.
During 1998 February 12, business
activities in Enugu state was brought to a light because there was no fuel.
In the state vehicles were seen in long queue in the filling stations
even when there is fuel at the filling station or not. Commuter were
stranded in the various bus stop with no hope of motor coming to take them to
their various destinations.
Consignment upon this prices of
commodities sky rocketed so much beyond the reach of the buyers.
“News watch publisher vol. 12
November is 1996”. The perennial fuel scarcity in Enugu state has fired
production companies to produce at a low capacity, with high price, since the
fuel which is used as a nourishing material to the machine which is suppose to
be used in production is scarce to get and when gotten the price is 300% (three
hundred percent) increase more than the former price. This is why most
company’s product is costly and these tend to scarce customers away from the
products. Also from the statistics available transportations cost have
gone up considerably, making it difficult for customers to get to their various
destinations. A journey that normally cost ten naira (N10) a drop now
cost twenty naira (N20) to fourty naira (N40) a drop which represent a total
increase of 200 percent. Conversely, the daily spending of the average
citizen have increase due to the sky rocketed increases in food stuff which was
occasioned by the fuel scarcity.
Furthermore, lateness, to duty or
offices have been lighten as a result of lack of commuter bases and text to
take them to their various destination. To this end, the effect of fuel
scarcity is so great that most indigenes of Enugu state metropolis are
suffering untold hardship.
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 THE ORIGIN OF THE SUBJECT AREA
The Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) appointed Shell Trading and Shipping Company (STASCO),
mobile producing Nigerian unlimited, Nigerian Agip Oil Company and EIF
Petroleum Products Nigeria Limited to import refined petroleum products Nigeria
limited to import refined petroleum product into the country. They are to
replace Gilencore of Switzerland which had handled refined petroleum products
importation in the past.
The companies are to import
virtually all the refined petroleum products needed in the country as almost
all the refineries cannot meet the needs of the nation, at least for now, but
for Enugu refining and petrochemical company that is streaming at less than
70,000 barrels per day, which is about 60 percent of its installed capacity,
the nation would today have a zero refining capability. Most Nigeria have
long coased to see it as incomprehensible.
To the traumatized Nigerian
populace, the economic of this arrangement would rather be left in the file for
future consideration. But how to tackle the fuel supply situation in the
twilight of the 20th century and rather Nigerian has handled oil for over to
years remains the greatest challenge to the present government.
As the government contends with the
choice of sources and suppliers, a seemingly more daunting task lies in the
distribution of the products. If it is not that vessels will not
discharge at the ports because of disagreements between Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and parts authority, it could be that fewer
drivers nation wide on a strike because a cow hit one of them.
How almost any conservable
occurrence or thing could study fault the fuel supply situation and throw Enugu
state socio-economic activities into a frenzy has remained one of the high
points of government of the country in the past few years. Experts who
reviewed the situations last week, with agreement between the federal
government and oil trading companies observed that the arrangement may not be
the solution to the recurring fuel scarcity in the country like Nigeria with
for refineries to impact fuel, means that the very factors that could conspired
to render the existing refineries in efficient would also combine to make
importation in effective.
- See more at: https://afribary.com/read/3870/the-effect-of-fuel-scarcity-in-nigerian-2379#sthash.Fui4AWGo.dpuf
