It’s been a harrowing one week for residents of Lagos; Nigeria’s commercial capital as the long queues at petrol stations have returned and the black market is buzzing again.
Fares have also hit the roof as a consequence and most Lagosians have resorted to trekking to and from work as only a few public buses can afford to ply the roads.
“The interesting thing is that with all the promises made by the concerned authorities, the scarcity has continued. In a country without public power supply, we can’t even run our generators at home and in the offices”, said Olojede, a banker who was sweating the ordeal in a petrol station in Victoria Island.
Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had blamed the marketers for the agony experienced by motorists in Abuja, Lagos and most other parts of the country, but the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has blamed the federal government for the situation. While Mrs Iweala has promised that marketers will be paid this week, another theory holds that the tanker drivers are holding marketers to ransom until their debts amounting to billions of naira are cleared by the latter.
The situation has also exacerbated the snarling traffic situation in all parts of Lagos as queues spill into major roads.
It is a similar situation in Abuja where our correspondent in the capital city reports that the queues have been a constant for a month now.
“We hear that the marketers have promised not to co-operate until their debts owed them by the government are cleared because the incoming government at the center will not want to pay them”, said Victoria Awashika, a lawyer who spoke to Ekekeee amid sweltering heat at a gas station queue in Abuja.
At the time of filing this report, the black market has been the only option for Lagos and Abuja residents where a 10 liter quantity of PMS is sold for as much as N2,500.
“It’s tough already living in Nigeria without the scarcity. The government should please come to our aid as soon as possible. We have suffered enough in this country”, one Lagos resident told this medium in the Onipanu area of Lagos.
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