Fuel scarcity bites harder as litre hits N340

The price of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) has risen to N340 per litre in Dutse, the Jigawa State Capital.

The situation has subjected the residents, especially motorists, to chaos and hardships due to the scarcity of the commodity.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria, who monitor petrol filling stations on Sunday, observed that long queues of vehicles distorted normalcy at the stations.

The filling stations are selling the product at exorbitant cost of N340 per litre while the Dutse NNPC mega station Retail Stations had been under lock and key since Jan. 8 following a fire outbreak.

Also, most of the filling stations within the city were not opened for a long period of time.

At Awajil Global Resources, IMG Petroleum, Maruta Petroleum and Investment, all on Ibrahim Aliyu bye-pass, motorists and commercial motorcyclists were on long queues waiting to refuel their tanks.

Also, Audu Manager filling station and AA Kankani Nig. Ltd, on Olusegun Obasanjo Road had long queues of vehicles, and were also selling the product at the same price.

Filling stations like A.S.A Oil Nig. Ltd., B.A Bello Nig. Ltd and Matrix, all on Ibrahim Aliyu bye-pass, were either not having or selling the product.

Most of the motorists who spoke with NAN expressed dissatisfaction over the non availability of the product.

A motorist, Malam Aminu Muhammad, described the situation as frustrating and urged the Federal Government and other authorities concerned to bring lasting solutions to the chaos.

Also commenting, Muhammad Askira, said the Federal Government should ensure that security agencies monitored the filling stations and ensure that products were sold at the approved price.

Also, a farmer, Ahmad Rufa’i, said the ugly situation was making him to produce at loss.

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“I plant wheat maize and every week I need at least 20 litres to water my farms. And I need to water these two farms at least 20 times.

“So how much money do you expect me to spend on fuel alone, not talk of transport and other logistics.

“So most of us are doing this farming without any certainty of wether we gain or we loose,” Rufa’i said.

The managements of the filling stations declined comments on the sad situation, because “we are not authorised to speak to the press”.