Fare hike: Travellers, commuters groan as fuel scarcity bites harder
Travellers and commuters nationwide were stranded at bus stops and motor parks yesterday as the petrol scarcity in the country bites harder.
This came as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC Ltd, and oil marketers said they were intensifying efforts to tackle the scarcity.
Many filling stations without the product remained closed in Lagos and Abuja yesterday, while those that have the product continued to sell to motorists and other users.
We gathered that many motorists and other users were compelled by circumstances to patronise black market operators who openly sold the product along Ikorodu Road, Isolo and other locations, in cans at between N900 and N1,000 per litre.
Similar high fares were charged in different Abuja routes, yesterday, and this led to a sharp increase in both inter and intra-state journeys.
Consequently, commuters were stranded at bus stops, while travellers were also stranded in motor parks due to high fares charged by transporters.
We also gathered Lagos-Abuja trip which hitherto cost about N30,000 rose to as high as N50,000 yesterday, prompting some travellers to cancel their trips.
In Makurdi, the Benue state capital, the pump price of petrol hit N780 per litre as most filling stations in the town remained under lock without product to dispense.
Investigations revealed that a few that had products to sell, such as NNPC Mega Station on New Otukpo Road which was dispensing at N617 per litre had long queues of cars, commercial buses and motorcycles waiting patiently to purchase.
At Enyo filling stations on Ankpa Quarters Junction, which was dispensing at N660 per litre, motorists and commercial motorcycle operators were seen making frantic efforts to buy the product.
At the time of this report, most of the major and independent marketers in the town had no product to sell, while the few that had were dispensing between it for between N770 and N780 per litre to stranded motorists.
A commercial bus driver, who identified himself as Jonathan Ogor, lamented the non-availability of the product in the last few days, saying it had already crippled his business.
“Sadly, this scarcity is happening at the time Nigerians are dying because they are finding it difficult to feed and take care of their health needs since the removal of subsidy,’’ he said.
In the Jos-Bukuru metropolis, it was learned that the cost of transport fare imposed by the taxi and tricycle operators had increased by 17% to 50%, depending on bargaining power and the willingness of the operator to accept.
While the drivers complained about the high cost of fuel, which was sold at N850 per litre, commuters lamented that paying the increased price had added more burden to their lean resources.
From the PRTVC Roundabout in the Rayfield area to the Kwang/Lamingo Road axis, which used to be between N150 and N200, is now N200 or N300. Lamingo Road to Bukuru which used to be N400 is now N500, and the British-American junction to Polo roundabout which used to be N200 is now N300.