Fuel Scarcity Rocks Abuja

Over the past few days, it is not uncommon to find long queues at fuel stations across the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Commuters and drivers alike are seen standing around in groups while in fuel station queues complaining bitterly about the sudden hike in the price of premium motor spirit (PMS) in the Nigeria’s capital city.

The scarcity, which started looming on Thursday, April 25, 2024 when fuel was sold for N700 per liter in fuel stations and N1,000 in the black market, has developed into a full blown problem as at today, Monday, April 29, 2024 as fuel is currently still sold at about N700 per liter at fuel stations and N1,200 in the black market.

An Abuja resident, Salome Shittu, in an interview with Kristina Reports, complained about the distance she had to drive to get fuel and how much time she had to spend on the queue.

“I dove from Lokogoma to Airport Road for fuel because I heard the queue was shorter there. I got there and the queue was still long. Imagine driving about 15km just to get fuel. I was there from 8am yesterday and I eventually got fuel at about 11:30.”

A cab driver who simply identified as Abdul in an interview with Kristina Reports complained that over the weekend, he had to buy fuel from black market stalls because he could not afford to queue for hours at the stations for fuel.

He explained that he went out as early as 6:30 this morning to the NNPC fuel station at Wuse 6 and met a very long queue even when the station had not opened yet.

‘I went to NNPC at Wuse 6 very early today because i heard it is cheaper there and the line was very, very long and the filling station was not even open, by 6:30!”

“I had to go and buy from black market because I had to make money this morning, 1300 for a liter. It is really hard; I don’t know why it is happening but Government should fix it’

Inem John, a 9-5 worker explained that she has consistently been late to work since Thursday because of the fuel brouhaha, saying it is difficult to find cabs and when the cabs eventually show up, it is an actual struggle to get in.

She also complained that the cost of transportation has increased and this has affected her budgeting and disrupted her finances as a whole, appealing to the appropriate authorities to do something about it as the situation if it continues will make things difficult for her and other workers.

“I cannot begin to explain to you how this scarcity thing has affected me. Since Thursday, I have been late to work and that means deductions from my salary. I am spending more money than I usually do on transport plus the stress I go through to actually find a cab and I am still being charged because of lateness.

“That is like robbing Peter to pay Paul and it is not sustainable. I need whoever is in charge to help us. My pocket is suffering a little too much.”

James Okafor explained that he is particularly struggling with the increase in transport fares.

“I usually use five hundred naira to go from Gudu to Wuse which was already expensive, now it is N600, Area 1 to Berger that is usually N200 is now N300, if I keep topping N100 to all my transport fares how much will I have left at the end of the day.

“It is unfair, and we cannot blame the taxi people because they are buying fuel costly too. Something should be done about it.”

As at the time of this report, there are still long queues of cars with visibly tired drivers at fuel stations.