Fuel Scarcity Cripples S-East as Prices of Fares, Goods Skyrockets
The fuel scarcity crippling the country has resulted in the suffering of many Nigerians who have complained of government's negligence.
Fuel scarcity has resulted in so much hardship for Nigerians. A look around at activities during this period shows that Nigerians in some states are buying fuel at N200 against the government approved price of N87 per litre.
Many people who have complained about the increased cost of fares and goods as a result of the fuel scarcity are unhappy that the government has not done anything about the matter. Nigerians are disappointed that what they thought was a thing of the past has come back to haunt them. Many say that the filling stations have intentionally hoarded fuel and sell at night when most people must have gone home.
This trend of selling fuel at night and at exorbitant price has affected the lives of the ordinary Nigerian badly. The NNPC mega stations are not helping matters as most have resorted to selling fuel only at night to other independent marketers.
Fares have gone up on most routes in Anambra State following increase in the price of fuel from the normal N87 per litre to about N200 in most filling stations. Apart from the NNPC mega station along the Enugu - Onitsha expressway in Awka, no other mega station in the state has been selling fuel in the past two weeks, although people passing through such stations at night say they see trucks loaded with drums collecting fuel from those stations.
Many independent filling stations do not sell any longer, thus creating scarcity. The effect of the high cost of fuel is that many vehicles have been off the road, thereby eliminating the usual traffic on most major roads in the state.
In Abia, Aba, Imo, Owerri, Enugu, Anambra and other South-East part of Nigeria, the story has remained the same. People have complained of no light, no water and no fuel which has worsened the condition of living during this period. Those who managed to buy generators cannot operate it because of scarcity of fuel.
In Aba, a litre of petrol is dispensed by markerters at N200 while at the black markert, it is sold at between N250 and N300.
In Umuahia except at the NNPC filling station on Enugu-Port Harcourt express-way with a queue that stretches over four kilometres, other marketers sell between N180 and N200.
The story is not different in Imo State where several vehicle owners have parked their cars, following the soaring pump price of premium motor spirit, PMS, which now goes for N200 and above per litre, in the state.
A petroleum marketer, who spoke on strict grounds of anonymity, said that the cabals are at work again in the petroleum sector.
“The truth is that the cabals are at work again in the petroleum sector. The present administration should do well to ask Dr. Goodluck Jonathan what he did to keep the cabals at bay, during his tenure. This is not the change Nigerian voted for”, the marketer said.
Nigerians have called on the Federal Government to quickly address this issue before the ugly situation takes greater toll on the lives of Nigerians. The problem many believe is from the corrupt officials at the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR and tank farm owners who have collaborated to hoard fuel and cause scarcity. Nigerians want answers to this suffering.
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