By Raphael Ede
Enugu
Residents of Enugu and its environs are now groaning over excruciating scarcity of petroleum products, especially petrol.
More worrisome is that whereas the products are hard to come by because most filling stations do not have stock, the few ones that have supplies sell at exorbitant prices.
Checks showed that while some petrol stations sell at between N160 – N170 as against the official pump price of N87, the product is hardly seen at petrol stations.
As a result of the scarcity, long queues have returned to the Coal City despite the high price.
Residents are now feeling the heat as transport fare has increased while some motorists, especially private car owners, have parked their vehicles waiting for the return to normalcy.
Member representing Nkanu East at the Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon. Paul Osondu Nnajiofor, lamented on the floor of the House that the fuel scarcity was biting harder in his constituency.
Nnajiofor, therefore, called on NNPC and other stakeholders to do something before the situation aggravates.
Enugu state chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chief Ikechukwu Nwankwo, told our reporter that even station owners were lamenting because they were being pushed out of business, saying that it was difficult for them to procure the products.
Nwankwo raised hope that soon the problem could be alleviated because he learnt that Buhari was negotiating on how to pay the oil subsidy.
“Even the station owners are crying because they do not have the products for sale. I believe the problem will soon be over because I learnt that the President is negotiating on how to pay the oil subsidy debt,” Nwankwo said.
