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
2.1THE 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.