Fuel scarcity, what the people say

Lately, queues have resurfaced on the streets of Nigerian cities and towns as petrol scarcity bites harder. As a result of the resultant hardships, our reporters, Hosea Nyamlong and Jidauna Daring, went to town to seek people’s views regarding the situation and ways of finding a permanent solution.

 Gad Shamaki, Civil Society Organization (CSO), Jos

It is unfortunate that many years down the line, despite all the promises made by government, the fuel subsidy has been removed and adjusted.

Yet we are still suffering on the issue of fuel scarcity in Nigeria. As I speak to you now, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, fuel goes for ten thousand naira (10,000.00), for four litres while in Jos, it goes for six, seven thousand naira per gallon.

No filling station in Jos sells fuel for less than seven hundred naira (700.00), except government filling stations that sell for less, but one has to queue for many hours before getting the fuel.

In a situation like this, citizens pay more for fuel, including other basic needs of life like food, electricity, water, etc. This makes life very difficult for an average citizen to bear.

I believe the situation we are in now is as a result of government mismanagement. When government removed subsidy, monies gotten from it should have been ploughed back into the economy.

Government needs to go back to the drawing board and get it right so that Nigerian citizens should not suffer unnecessarily.

The way out for government in this situation is to sit with the stakeholders and see how they can bring back our refineries to work. We cannot be a rich nation while we are still poor.

Governments need to stop illegal exportation of our crude oil. They need to provide essential services for their citizens in order to make life easy and better.

Joseph Auta, provision shop owner, Jos

WELL, the fuel scarcity in the country has made life difficult to the people. It has made the prices of goods or provisions in the market very expensive and citizens are the ones suffering from this untold hardship.

Actually, there is no price control, many fuel stations sell the product at different prices. Nigerians are expecting government to look into the situation and address it immediately.

Also, I feel that governments should have mechanism in place that will control prices of goods generally in the country because the vast majority of the citizens are affected by the current scarcity of fuel. Because their earnings are not the same, those that earn less suffer more.

I am calling on government to address problem as soon as possible in order not to allow the situation to escalate into another thing. Many of my customers are affected, especially those that live very far. They no longer patronize me again because things are very difficult for them.

But I am very optimistic that fuel scarcity will soon become a thing of the past so that business will flow freely, so that customers will come to patronize our business as they used to do before.

Jonathan Simon, Keke operator

THESE few days, the situation in the country had not been easy for me as a Keke Napep operator. I want to tell you categorically that the fuel scarcity has actually disorganized my business. This is more so as getting passengers has now become a serious problem. So some of us have been struggling to get passengers before the unfortunate fuel scarcity hit everywhere in the country.

In fact, even the passengers now argue a lot about the fare because we have to increase it due to the increase in the price of fuel. As it is now, many of the commuters can’t afford to pay their transportation fare. Well, before the fuel scarcity, transport fare within the city of Jos was between 100,150 and at most 200 naira per drop. But, presently, these have doubled. This is because the fuel is still very expensive. This had brought about misunderstanding between us the operators and the passengers who board some of the Keke Napep. The argument always arises as a result of the increase in fares from one point to another.

My advice to government is to look into the plight of the masses because they are the ones that are worse hit by this unpalatable situation in the country.

Also, the fuel scarcity has affected my work and my daily income has actually dropped. It seems am only working in order to buy fuel. It is unfortunate that a litre is sold for a thousand naira in some black market fuel stations. That is why passengers have now resorted to trekking because of high cost of the fare which are forced to impose.

Mrs. Antonia Ayin, a teacher with the Government Secondary School, West of Mines, Jos

THE experience is terrible. Nigerians are not finding it easy, especially the common citizens. For me as a teacher, it is like what I am collection as salary is actually going for my transport fare. My salary has not been increased, despite the current situation in the country.

I believe government can do better; serious action should be taken to address this situation in time. I reside at Rantya, I spend not less than 1,500.00 naira for my transport fare to work every day, to and fro. I also trek for one drop from my house to enable me save some money for other uses as far as life is concerned.

I am appealing to government to urgently look into the root cause of the fuel scarcity so that other sectors of the economy can boom.

My prayer is that God should help us change things in this country.

Kilani Muniru Ola, a commercial transporter

EVER since the fuel subsidy was removed, transporters have been facing a lot of difficulties just to buy the product and, coupled with the current fuel scarcity in the country, life has become very unbearable. On a daily basis, I buy a litre of fuel for as high as one thousand naira per litre depending on your location.

Transporters have no option than to increase the transportation fare in order to meet up with the cost of the product and other services.

Initially, the transport fare from Jos to Bauchi State was between 800 to 1,000 naira but now it is 2,500 to 3,000 naira as the case may be. And commuters are not finding it easy to board our vehicles because of the increase in the price of fuel.

I am appealing to government to make the product available in all fuel stations at a subsidized price

Compiled by Hosea Nyamlong and Jidauna Daring.