People queue with jerrycans to buy fuel at Mobil filling station in Lagos, on May 21, 2015. Long queues formed at petrol stations across oil-rich Nigeria on May 21 following a row over subsidy payment to petrol importers as well as sale of government oil blocks to private investors, union officials said. AFP PHOTO/PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (Photo credit should read PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images)

Residents besieged fuel stations in major cities across the country following late announcement yesterday of fuel price increment by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

It was gathered that motorists scrambled to fill their tanks as long queues resurfaced in petrol stations.

The scarcity, at a time of a global rise in crude oil prices, shook the nation despite the assurance given by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that there would be no increase in the ex-depot and pump prices of petrol this month.

In Lagos, petrol stations in Agege, Oshodi and Ikeja refused to sell with their gates locked, according to a report by PM News..

Similar ordeals were experienced by residents of Otta, Ogun State; Ibadan, Oyo State; Ilorin, Kwara State, and in numerous other cities across the country.

Many Nigerians are now asking what the cause of their ordeal was since the NNPC had ruled out increasing rates.

The scarcity followed an earlier move by petrol marketers to disrupt the loading of petroleum products at private depots in Lagos and other parts of the country, in protest against a new payment method.