Fuel queues return to Onitsha

Fuel queues have returned to Onitsha, Anambra, even as motorists pay higher for the products where they are available.

A correspondent who went round the city on Tuesday observed that the situation had resulted to higher prices than the official pump price.

The commuters in the town are also groaning as they now bear the brunt of the high fuel prices, with buses charging N150 instead of N100 from one end of the town to the other.

Commercial motorcyclists and tricyclists have also increased their fares from N50 to N80 or above for a drop.

A driver, Chima Obimma, said the scarcity was uncalled for since it was not a festive season.

"People should stop creating hardship for others; the current hike in price and non-availability of fuel in some fuel station is purely man-made,’’ Obimma said.


A commercial motorcyclist, Ikechukwu Madu, said the hike in fare was purely due to the current fuel price jump.

"Anytime there is normalcy, we will definitely return to the old price. But now, it is even difficult to get the product in some fuel stations, where they sell to their old customers," Madu said.

Also, the Manager at Mac-Vicky Fuel Station, Ifeanyi Okeke, said there was a shortfall in the supply of fuel to most stations.

Okeke noted that some stations now hoard the product and sell to a special group of people, who re-sell it at a higher price.

"We have shortfall in supply, which had necessitated the panic buying while unscrupulous fuel speculators are now ripping-off members of the public due to the development," he said.