Following the increase in the pump price of fuel from N179/per litre to N194/litre, fuel scarcity has persisted in Kaduna and its metropolis.
Several filling stations which have adjusted their pump price are locked as they do not have petrol to sell.
Although some independent marketers increased their pump price to between N200 and N300 per litre, motorists, tricycles and commercial bus drivers have continued to patronise them.
Samuel Moses, a motorist, on Friday, January 20, 2023, said increasing pump price is never a problem, but to make the product available to buyers is often an unfulfilled task.
A taxi driver who claimed he had been at the Oando filling station for over six hours explained that most filling station managers are always in the habit of diverting fuel and selling in the black market.
“We learnt there is fuel here. But when we came, they sold to seven persons and told us that fuel is finished,” he explained.
Olumide Adeosun, the chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, had earlier called for gradual deregulation of the sector, adding that it feared the current supply framework could not guarantee steady and consistent supplies to the country given the current state of government finances and unpredictable international supply shortages.
It, therefore, called for gradual price deregulation with targeted palliatives like transport and agricultural subsidies to the public to ease the implementation.
Buhari Hardships: Commuters Groaning As Fuel Still Sells For N380/Litre In Benue
Commuters and motorists in Benue State are groaning over the price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol which is still selling for as high as N380 per litre despite the intervention of the NNPC Limited.
The situation has been made worse by the unavailability of the product in virtually all the filling stations owned by major marketers in the state.
Findings indicated that while the few Independent Marketers who have products sell to desperate motorists for between N270 and N300 per litre, black marketers sell for between N360 and N380 per litre.
The NNPC Mega Station on Otukpo Road which is selling at government-approved prices cannot be easily accessed as vehicle owners make frantic efforts to gain entrance into the station to buy the product.
Some of the motorists who could not hide their displeasure over the unabated development appealed to the authorities to intervene and address the issue.
David Okube, a commercial motorcycle operator, who was among the multitude of riders who were waiting to purchase the product from the Mega Station lamented that major petrol stations in the state were deliberately making life unbearable for the people by not dispensing products to the public.
“Why will it be only the Maga Station that is selling fuel to the public? Why are other major marketers not selling weeks after the government took steps to ensure that there is enough product in the country?
“Even nearby Abuja which was hard hit by scarcity now has products. But when you come to Benue state they are selling to us at between N270 and N300 per litre while the black marketers are selling for about N380 per litre some even sell for N400, especially at night.
“We cannot continue like this because the people are suffering. If you come to Mega Station to buy you will spend the whole day here and if you are unlucky you might not get to buy before they luck up,” he said.
Also, a medical doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity on Friday, December 30, 2022, lamented that it was unacceptable for Nigerians to continue to go through pains in order to buy petrol.
“How can a responsible and responsive government allow its citizens go through this kind of pains in order to buy fuel? I am a medical doctor who is supposed to be in the hospital attending to patients but I abandoned that assignment to search for fuel. Why are all the major marketers in Makurdi not selling fuel? Why are we still buying fuel for about N300 per litre in Benue? It is killing, to say the least.”
Source: Daily Post
