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Nigeria’s fuel scarcity enters its fourth week. Several dramas have trailed the nation’s scarcity despite being the 11th highest producer of crude oil. In the early days when the scarcity began, reports claimed that Nigeria had imported a poor standard of fuel into the country.

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and several Nigerian petroleum dealers blame the circulation of bad fuel imported from Belgium. This ugly situation, which of course was orchestrated by the corruption in the downstream sector, led to untold hardship among transporters and commuters alike. The past few weeks have seen several automobiles breakdown, as the bad fuel knocked their engines. It became worse as it led to gridlock on several highways. The situation became more horrible as the NNPC went on the nationwide evacuation of the fuel, which led to fuel scarcity. The information that good fuel has been sent into circulation and deposited in filling stations led to days of suffering that began as thousands of automobiles line up in filling stations to buy fuel at 210 to 250 Naira per litre. The was a nearly double increase to what was being sold before at 162 Naira per litre. However, in the face of this gruelling situation, a petroleum company, BOVAS stands out as it still sells for 162 Naira per litre, while others are sell for 200 to 250. This news has warmed the hearts of many Nigerians as a Twitter user, @GeneralEddy2k, shared this on his Twitter handle. According to the user: “If she receives supply at N162/ltr and there is an increase in price along the line, she will never adjust her metre to the new price.” Many have stated that BOVAS owner, Mrs. V.A. Samson, is indeed deserving of national honour. This is especially true as the dynamics of capitalism can force shylock dealers to increase the price of fuel and adjust their pumps accordingly.

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In 1980, BOVAS Managing Director Mrs. V. A. Samson started as a dealer under Texaco Nigeria Ltd. (now MRS Plc.). She distinguished herself by winning the most priced Texaco Plc Best Dealer Award in sales, marketing innovativeness amongst others, for the Latin American/West African Region. The BOVAS group was established in 1980 and started operations as an indigenous independent petroleum marketing company. BOVAS opened its first service station in Osogbo, the capital city of Osun State in Nigeria in 1991, as part of the efforts to assist the government in making petroleum products more accessible to everyone. Presently, the Company operates One Hundred & Nineteen (119) service stations around the country and has several more under various stages of construction, which are to be delivered at intervals. A Liquefied Petroleum Gas Plant was added to the group in 1995, to cater for the domestic gas customers, primarily in the southwestern part of the country, with Twenty (20) operational gas skids. Source Official website of BOVAS & Company Ltd. Featured image source: Twitter

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This article was first published on 7th March 2022

nnaemeka-emmanuel

Nnaemeka is an academic scholar with a degree in History and International Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also a creative writer, content creator, storyteller, and social analyst.