Fuel price hike, scarcity bite harder in Ogun

Residents of Ogun State are having a hard time accessing fuel at various filling stations across the State.

This is despite the fact that the people are ready to buy the product at any price dictated by the sellers.

In Abeokuta, there are extremely long queues at the few filling stations where the product is available.

Motorists spend hours queuing for petrol, which they buy at prices above N300 in most filling stations.

“Fuel is scarce. I just bought one litre at N350. It was like a war to get the fuel. I spent four hours before I finally got four litres,” a commercial motorcyclist told Track News correspondent while negotiating the cost of transporting him from FMC to Okemosan, Abeokuta.

It was observed that many filling stations in the State capital have been under lock and key for weeks.

Artisans like barbers, welders, printers and others who depend on electricity to do their daily works are bitter over their inability to buy fuel.

Their problem was compounded by the failure of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company to supply power for more than 10 days now.

While saying they have never depended on the power distribution company, the artisans condemned the Federal Government for failing to find a solution to the lingering fuel problem for several months.

“At the moment, barbers and others have increased the cost of their services, while drivers and okada riders charge double their usual transport fare,” Adewale Semiu, a resident of Isale Igbein said.

Likewise, the majority of private car owners have resorted to commercial means of transportation as they could not buy fuel.

Many Ogun residents said the fuel crisis is affecting commercial activities in the State and having its toll on traders and buyers alike.

Coincidentally, the fuel crisis is hitting harder with the scarcity of the new naira notes, two situations the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu said were targeted at him to scuttle his chances