• Angry reactions as filling stations resume sales nationwide
By Our Reporters
As against the panic buying, long queues recorded immediately President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of fuel subsidy on May 29, most filling stations nationwide have resumed sales of PMS to motorists and individuals at different prices, varying from N488 to N570 in some states. However, there are a few states where scarcity of PMS hasn’t abated.
Saturday Sun findings across the country revealed that many commuters who can’t afford the new higher transport fares as a result of the upward review of fuel prices nationwide have resorted to trekking. The sudden development has also been trailed by lamentation galore.
In Lagos, the NNPC stations sells for N448 a litre. For others, it costs between N500 and N550. But some fuel stations have remained closed since Tuesday.
Most residents of Taraba State have resorted to trekking long distances as many motorists have parked their cars, and the fares of tricycles have nearly quadrupled following the skyrocketing hike in the prices of fuel.
Some of the filling stations that were initially closed are beginning to open and dispense fuel at different prices, ranging from between N550 to N559.
The prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in Owerri, the Imo State state capital, sell between N520 and N550 in most of the filling stations across the metropolis. But fuel at NNPC sells for N517 per litre. Outside the state capital, it sells for between N 570 and N580.
A commercial bus driver, Mr Peter Onyeukwu said: “This is not the right time to remove the subsidy. The president should have at least stabilised the hard economy already experienced by the people. Some people resulted to trekking some short distances.”
In the Abeokuta metropolis, the motorists, particularly the operators of taxis, said the hike in price to N500 has seriously affected their operations, as they now work half the hours they used to work. The commuters, on the other hand, have been contending and groaning under the high cost of transportation.
Reacting to the situation, however, Mrs. Bankole Oluwatoyin, lamented that going from her home in Elega Area of Abeokuta to the office located at the Governor’s Office in Oke Mosan, has taken a serious toll on her purse, from her daily transport fare of N600 to and fro before the increment to N1,300.
Before now, a litre of fuel in Abia State sold from between N210 and N230, but, presently, it sells from N550 to N600, with the corresponding hike in transport fares and goods and services.
Paul Chukwu, a commercial bus driver, told Saturday Sun it was wrong for the Federal Government to announce the removal of fuel subsidy without considering the hardship it will bring to the people. On his own, Kalu Agwu, a trader in Umuahia condemned the Federal Government’s decision and urged them to rescind it.
Motorists and residents in Kogi State are currently passing through hell over the non availability of premium motor spirit, as most of the filling stations in the state locked up their stations and refused to sell the product shortly after the May 29 broadcast of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The few stations dispensing fuel to customers in the state capital are selling at astronomical prices, ranging from N500 to N550 while black market sells between N650 and N700 per litre. Transport fares and prices of commodities have also increased by over 50 percent.
In Kebbi State, petrol prices have skyrocketed across the state as pump price has increased to N550 per litre in many filling stations and over N800 at the black market.
Due to the scarcity, transport fares to various destinations, within and outside the state have been increased. Commercial motorcyclists who used to collect N100 or N150 to various destinations are now charging from N250 and N300 while Birnin Kebbi to Kalgo, Jega through commercial vehicles, which used to cost between N200 and N300, is now N400 to N700.
A survey conducted by Saturday Sun in Kano indicated that both the major and Independent marketers in the state have reviewed their price to between N550 and N560 per litre. Following the shift in prices by the stations, the black market outlets have equally hiked their prices.
Saturday Sun gathered that a four-litre gallon of fuel is sold for N2,500 while a two litre half gallon of fuel goes for N1,300. Commercial tricycle operators and night-time motorcycle operators have since jerked up their fares per drop. Also, middle line business owners, like frozen shops, pepper soup and beer parlor joints, vulcanizers and factories, are going through a fire of hell at the moment.
Before the removal of subsidy, a litre of fuel was sold between N220 to N225 in Ebonyi State. But the subsidy removal skyrocketed the price to N550. Black market traders even sell as high as N700 per litre.
Residents of the state are unhappy with the development, as it has affected prices of goods and services. A number of people in the city now trek from junctions to Junctions as commercial motorcycle and tricycle operators have doubled their prices.
In Delta, across filling stations in the Asaba metropolis, the essential product is being dispensed between N510.00 and N520.00 per litre.
The price is the same across some major cities, including Warri, Effurun, Sapele, Ughelli, Agbor, Ozoro, Kwale, among others in the state. Michael Onoriode, a resident, told Saturday Sun, though the removal of subsidy was desirable “the timing is wrong.”
In Osun State, filling stations are selling fuel at the rate of N500 and the product is available, Saturday Sun has gathered.
But residents lament the increase in the fare of intercity as the minibus jerked a drop from N100 to N200 while long distance routes are charged higher and negotiated, expectations are high on intervention from the government to cushion the effect.
Commercial activities in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, and major towns in the state, have been paralysed following the new price template of N515 and N520 in the state.
Saturday Sun findings in government ministries and agencies revealed a reduction in the number of staff that came to work on Thursday. There are fewer public transports on the road, and commuters have had to contend with standing at bus stops for longer periods unlike before.
In Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital and its environs, there is availability of petroleum products, but filling stations are selling at different prices, amid lamentations by residents.
At the NNPC mega station and its subsidiaries, pump price is N511.00 per litre, while other filling stations sell between N600.00 and N650.00 per litre. Black market operators sell N700.00 a litre.
Majority of petrol stations in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, have been dispensing Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to customers at the rate of N500 per litre since Wednesday
A motorist, who gave his name as Mr. Adekola Aderibigbe, told Saturday Sun: “The government should try as much as possible to put some palliative measures in place to cushion the effect of the hike in pump price of petrol. I am a salary earner and my salary has not increased.”
Prices of fuel at various fuel stations in Nasarawa have soared, with some stations charging as high as 600 naira per litre. The state-owned NNPC station has also increased its price to N550 naira per litre.
One frustrated driver, Mr Charles Ohaka, told Saturday Sun: “We are going through immense pain trying to afford fuel. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to meet our transportation needs. The sudden hike has thrown our budgets off balance, and our salaries simply cannot cover the expenses.”
Motorists in Calabar, Cross River State, have expressed their frustration as fuel price oscillates between N510 and N700 per in the state.
As a result of this, transport fares have tripled by 200 percent. A commercial driver, Emmanuel Asuquo, said the increment had elicited an upward review of fares: “We cannot buy fuel at N650 a litre at the filling station and you expect us to still charge the usual N100 per drop before the increment.”
The new fuel regime has humbled bayelsans. Investigations around Yenagoa metropolis indicated that, unlike before when black marketers cashed in on fuel scarcity to milk the people, there is no scarcity this time around. Almost all the major fuel stations in Yenagoa are open for business with adequate availability of petroleum, selling for slightly above N500.
Motorists in Minna, the Niger State capital, have kept their distance from the filling stations, as the product is being sold for between N537 per litre (NNPC Mega stations) and N540 at the major marketers across all the filling stations.
The situation has completely reduced vehicular traffic hitherto experienced in part of Minna the state capital, with residents, who spoke our correspondent, saying it was more economical to use public transport than putting their vehicles on the road with the current fuel price regime.
The hike in petrol prices has forced many people in Borno to limit their movements within and outside the state. Petrol stations in Maiduguri now sell the product between N560 and N600 as against N195 before now.
“I have resolved with my family members that we will be using a car per day to drop our children in their schools and go to work. Other social engagements are now limited. I can’t sustain the current price of N570 per litre running two vehicles,” a resident, Ibrahim Saleh, told Saturday Sun.
Fuel scarcity now bites harder in Akure, the Ondo State capital, and other major towns and cities in the state.
Already, a litre of PMS is now sold between N500 and N600 in a few filling stations that have the product. This development has led to scarcity of vehicles on the roads, even as many commuters are stranded.
The fuel situation in Enugu is dragging the residents crazy, with many of the filling stations not selling fuel since the new pump price was announced. The few that are selling are having queues with two different fuel prices. While the NNPC Mega stations and Pinnacle Oil and Gas stations are selling at N520 per litre, the others are selling at N530, N550 per litre.
An angry resident, Ikechukwu Joel, who spoke to Saturday Sun, said, “This is the height of wickedness. How can we survive in this kind of situation? A new government that should have begun with policies that will resuscitate the lives of the people are rather making it worse.”
In Awka, the Anambra State capital, there’s no uniform pump prices across the petrol stations in the town. The prices ranged from N520 and N550 per litre.
A filling station near Y Junction, Global Bonnay, sold N530 per litre on Thursday evening while CAPAD Filling Station at Nodu Okpuno in Awka South Local Government Area sold N550 at per litre. This hike in pump price has influenced the upward rise in the cost of transportation in the state.
Following the new pump price, major marketers and independent marketers in Ado-Ekiti sell the product at N500 per litre. However, some filling stations in the metropolis have remained closed all day, e.g Abound Filling Station in Bashiri and BOVAS Filling Station at Bank Road.
Some residents who reacted to the situation registered their displeasure, describing the new pump price as outrageous.
Transport fares in Akwa Ibom have skyrocketed by more than 100 percent as the pump price of petrol hovers between N550 and N700 per litre.
Ironically, the major marketers including the NNPC mega station had since closed shop in the state many months before the no-subsidy announcement was made by President Tinubu,
Filling station are actually dispensing fuel but the buyers are few; just as the streets of Uyo are bereft of their bustling with cars.