Commuters groan as Ibadan fuel scarcity increases

Vehicles queuing for fuel at a filling station.
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Commuters were on Saturday stranded in Ibadan as fuel scarcity bit harder across the city.

Movements and commercial activities were hindered as commercial vehicles were withdrawn from the roads due to the scarcity.

Checks in some areas showed that transport fare within the state capital was increased by almost 100per cent as only few vehicles plied the roads.

The fare from Wire and Cable area to Dugbe which was normally N50 is now N100, while a trip from Dugbe to Mokola attracted N80 instead of the normal N50.

Long queues were seen in a few filling stations.

In most of the filling stations where the product was available on Friday, petrol sold for between N200 and N250 per litre against the initial unofficial N110 per litre.

The product, according to the Petroleum Pricing Regulatory Authority, is still officially being sold for N97 per litre.

Many of the filling stations visited by our correspondent in Ibadan and environs on Friday were shut due to unavailability and hoarding of the product.

Some residents of Oyo town complained about the shortage in supply of the product.

An employee of the Directorate of Petroleum Resources in the state who simply gave his name as John, said, “There won’t be fuel as long as the marketers are not ready to abide by the dictates of the government. The government said they should not sell above N97 but they insisted on N110.

“When we started shutting their stations, their leaders had a meeting and decided that they would no longer sell if the government would not allow them to sell at the price they want. That is why there is scarcity of the product. Until they comply, the situation may remain the same.”

Meanwhile, there was a boom in sales of the product at the black market in Sabo, Mokola area of the city.

Motorists patronised the fuel hawkers within the predominantly Hausa community.

A motorist, Tunde Olaode, who claimed to have bought four litres of fuel for N1,000, said he was forced to buy at the black market to avoid getting stranded.