Hours after President Bola Tinubu was inaugurated as Nigeria’s 7th democratically elected president and his subsequent declaration that fuel subsidy is gone, residents in Benin City were on Tuesday confronted with the recurring challenge of scarcity of petrol.
BusinessDay’s check around Benin metropolis indicates that some filling stations at Ekehuan road, airport road, Sapele road, Ikpoba hill, Siluko road, who are independent marketers, sell between N300 and N500 per liter.
While some opened to customers, others closed their gates, apparently hoarding the product to sell at an exorbitant price to users.
The situation subjected motorists to another harrowing situation and placed passengers at the mercy of drivers, who had no choice but to increase the cost of transportation.
Read also: Petrol price to settle between N478 and N600/ltr as subsidy goes
“I pity passengers because it is how I bought that is how I am going to charge them. But, there is no way I can buy at a price more than N500 per litre. If I buy at that rate, how much will I charge my passengers,” said one driver, who stood for hours on the queue to buy the product at N300.
He couldn’t get the product as the fuel was declared finished when it got to his turn.
“Nigerians are too greedy. We are our own problem. The president hasn’t removed subsidy yet, but because he stated something regarding subsidy during the swearing-in ceremony, every marketer decided to keep the product and cheat on their fellow citizens,” a potential buyer said.
