Several Nigerians have lamenting the fuel scarcity paralyzing the nation, as it showed no improvement on Good Friday,the first day of the Easter public holidays. Millions of Nigerians have therefore resigned to spending the Easter holidays on petrol queues.
Omgdailyupdate investigations revealed that many motorists spent much of the day moving from one filling station to the other in search of petrol. The price was outrageous where fuel was available.
It ranged between N130 and N200 per litre.
Some families were forced to call off their plans to travel for the festivities.
Tade Ajayi,a father of four, told newsmen yesterday that the experience of the last seven weeks had drained him.
“I cannot really explain how I feel. But, one thing is that the last seven weeks have been tough. I am always weak now,” he said.
Madam Ayinke Emmanuel, who sells foodstuffs at Onigbongbo, Lagos, said she and her business had suffered greatly on account of the fuel scarcity.
Over the last five years the popular Mile 12 Market in Lagos has served as her chief source of food items.
“We are really suffering. I go to Mile 12 to buy what I sell. But since the scarcity started, I have not been able to make any meaningful profit. Much of my profit margin has been taken away by the high cost of transport fare,” she said.
Miss Toyosi Olugbuyi, a banker who works on Lagos Island and plies the Ikorodu – Marina route said:”I usually take the BRT bus so I don’t have to pay an extra cost for transportation but the queue is not funny.
“Imagine having to get to the bus stop by 5am every day in order to get to Marina. That means I have to wake up by 4am and if I miss that time, I would have to battle with the crowd at the bus stop and pay a higher fare”.
Not a few commuters had an easy ride getting home on the eve of Good Friday as the rush to store fuel for the holiday season increased the queues at filling stations in many areas of Lagos state.
For Tayo Ojo, an accountant with a health care centre on Awolowo road, Ikeja, Lagos, the situation is made worse by of the lack of power, which he said makes him look worn out and tired every day.
Queues have continued to stretch endlessly at the filling stations in Lokoja,Kogi State where fuel is sold at all.
For more than two weeks, notable filling stations that operated fairly more regularly since the persistent fuel problem that hit the country, including some of the NNPC mega filling stations, have remained locked.
Where available, petrol sells for N150 on the average.
The situation, coupled with nonpayment of salaries to civil servants, has forced many vehicle owners to patronize commercial motorcyclists (okada) or tricycles, for their daily business.
At the NNPC mega filling in Gadumo, long queues are recorded as early as 6.30am.
Most of the filling stations in Kano usually claim to be out of stock yesterday.
However,they open under the cover of darkness and sell at outrageous prices.
Commercial activities in the city are gradually grinding to a halt, following the unending fuel scarcity.
The fuel scarcity has sparked a transportation crisis in Jos, the Plateau state capital as only a few commercial and private vehicles are on the road.
Of the over 50 filling stations in the city,only about two sell fuel these days.
Transport fare has gone up by 100 percent.
Christians complained about the high cost of food items ahead of the Easter festival.
Traders blamed the high cost of the food items on fuel scarcity and the attendant hike in transport fares.
No comments:
Post a Comment