Fears, anxiety over possible fuel price increase

LAST few days have not been that easy for car owners and commuters on the plateau. This is because of the near absence of premium motor spirit (PMS) commonly known as petrol in most filling stations within Jos metropolis and its environs. Though, commercial drivers have not yet increase fares, anxiety and fear has already striped the citizenry as to great anticipations of premium motor spirit increase in the country.

Investigations reveal that most filling stations have started creating artificial scarcity to facilitate unnecessary huge profit should the increase in price of fuel becomes realistic.

Metro correspondents said Motorists queuing at the   Nigerian National Petroleum (NNPL), Mega stations and some few filling stations dispensing the commodity. even as many others remained under lock and key.

It was reliably garthered that the reported short supply of the petrol to marketers, made many retailers to halt the sale of the product creating hardship on the citizenry.

This led to the emergence of black marketers having a field day as petrol were sold in Jerry cans between one thousand two hundred naira to one thousand five hundred naira to motorists who could not stay in long queues at few filling stations dispensing petrol.

It was also revealed that though NNPC admitted some hitches, it has, insisted that there had been no official directive to the effective of the increase of the fuel product.

NNPC said, it has sufficient product that would last not just November and December, but even beyond January need 2022.

The Group Managing Director of NNPC Malam Mele Kyari assured citizens that, NNPC has over 1.7 billion litres of premium motor spirit (PMS) and another 2.3 billion of litres coming into the country.

He said that government has no plan to revise the pricing structure.

As a matter of fact, citizens don’t know what is the real cause of the fuel scarcity that normally occurred during the Ember month.

Metro correspondents when round Jos metropolis to sample the opinion of the citizens about the recent fuel queens by motorists.

Friday Oguche, a ‘Keke’ operator who narrates his experience said, fuel scarcity has affected his business, because the commodity is not available and he cannot get it from the filling station except from black market, and the price is always high and mostly the product is adulterated with other substance.

He added that, the long queues has discouraged him from going to the filling station to buy the product and he has nothing to take care of his family.

Oguche appealed to the government to step in fast to tackle the issue of fuel scarcity as many citizens livelihood depends on the availability of the product.

Adekule, General Manager of Total Filling Station at Terminus Market attribute the fuel scarcity to inadequate sufficient reserve from NNPC because Nigeria depend mostly on importation of this finished product from oversea.

He said that, as a manager of a filling station, he is ever ready to sale the product at government price, depending or the availability of the products, he awaits the supply of the product very soon.

A commuter Asabe Garba, said the shortage or fuel supply within the metropolis has caused untold hardship to citizens as transport fare has increased in some part of Jos North and Jos South.

According to Garba, the hike in the price of petrol is attributed of the high rate of foreign exchange of dollar at the market. A taxi driver, Emmanuel Dung, said he has been at the petrol station since 7am and is yet to buy the product and it was about 3pm queuing at NNPC Mega station.

“This is my source of livelihood my family depends on this daily and this fuel scarcity has scour my daily income per day”.

He appeal to government to look into the situation of the fuel scarcity, because citizens are finding it very difficult to go about their business, because our livelihood depend on the product