Motorists in Kaduna, Kaduna State, on Wednesday formed long queues at filling stations following continued scarcity of petrol.
A cross-section of the motorists told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that only few stations had supplies and they were selling at the government approved pump price of N97 per litre.
NAN correspondent, however, observed that black market operators have taken over major streets of the metropolis, selling a litre of petrol for N200.
Mr Abubakar Ahmad, a motorist, said he had been on the queue for almost eight hours waiting to purchase the commodity, adding that motorists had been experiencing the scarcity on daily basis for over two weeks.
Another motorist, Kanu Stephen, said he had been on the queue for seven hours hoping to get the commodity.
A manager in one of the filling stations, Thomas Ishaku, told NAN that his station was expecting supply because it had not received supplies for close to a week.
A black market operator told NAN that motorists were buying the products from him despite the high price “ because they wanted to avoid the stress at filling stations”.
According to him, he makes N100,000 daily since the state started experiencing fuel scarcity.
Alhaji Kabir Umar, the President, Petroleum Dealers Association of Nigeria (PEDAN) told NAN on phone that the scarcity was a result of low supply of the commodity.
“The issue of hoarding by marketers is not true, if the product is available, why will you hoard it because you will be operating at a loss,” he said.
Umar appealed to the government to make petrol available in sufficient quantity to reduce the current hardship faced by the citizens. (NAN)
© anu for Royal Times of Nigeria Newspaper, 2014. |
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