This Article is on Travelers and commuters nationwide who 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. Many motorists and other users were compelled by circumstances to patronize black market operators who openly sold the product in cans at between N900 and N1,000 per litre. Similar high fares were charged across the country yesterday and this led to a sharp increase in both inter and intra-state journeys.
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Consequently, commuters were stranded at bus stops, while travelers were also stranded in motor parks due to high fares charged by transporters. Lagos-Abuja trip which hitherto cost about N30,000 rose to as high as N50,000 yesterday, prompting some travelers to cancel their trips. 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 which was dispensing at N617 per litre had long queues of cars, commercial buses and motorcycles waiting patiently to purchase.
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Most of the major and independent marketers in the town had no product to sell, while the few that had been dispensing between it for between N770 and N780 per litre to stranded motorists. A commercial bus driver 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.