Fuel Scarcity: Black Market Thrives At N1,700/Ltr, As Fuel Goes For N680 – 1,050 At Stations

• Attendance Drops As Parents Unable To Take Children To School

• Passengers Stranded, Resort To Trekking

THE current fuel scarcity caught residents of Osun State unaware, findings have revealed. 

While parents and guardians were preparing for school resumption, the sudden fuel scarcity disrupted their plans, as many of them were left stranded and have been unable to take their children and wards to school since Monday.

While parents and guardians were preparing for school resumption, the sudden fuel scarcity disrupted their plans, as many of them were left stranded and have been unable to take their children and wards to school since Monday.

OSUN DEFENDER noted that the fuel scarcity hit Osogbo during the weekend but it has bitten harder since Monday, causing hardship for motorists and commuters in the state.

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Majority of the filling stations in Osogbo were not selling fuel, forcing residents of the state capital to search for the Petroleum Motor Spirit (petrol) in far distance. 

Aside from the NNPC which was selling at N580 per litre, every other petrol station in Osogbo were selling between N680 and N1,050 per litre. 

OSUN DEFENDER visited the NNPC mega stations at Ring Road and Abere in Osogbo, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to monitor the fuel situation. 

The filling stations were filled to the brim. Both the entrance and exit gates of the stations were fully occupied by vehicle owners who struggled to get fuel.

There was also a very long queue of vehicle owners which began from the NNPC (Lameco)entrance gate and terminated at the Government House Area. 

It was learnt that some of the vehicle owners passed the night at the filling stations in a bid to get fuel as early as possible the following day. 

Consumers also crowded NIPCO (both at Ogo-Oluwa and Lameco), Matrix (Aregbe area), Cisse (Rinsayo area, Ring road) and Eterna (NECO area) in a bid to get the commodity. 

Matrix was selling at N680 while NIPCO was selling at N645 per litre as of the time of filing this report. 

• Black Market Thrives At N1,500-N1,700/Ltr

OSUN DEFENDER noted that black market sale has resurfaced amidst the fuel scarcity, as some individuals have taken advantage of the situation to enrich themselves.

Findings revealed that the people who are engaged in the black market business usually compromise attendants at fuel stations to get fuel late in the night or early in the morning at the normal pump price. 

The black marketers at Testing Ground, Kobo and Sasa, Oke Baale areas of Osogbo were selling a litre of fuel between N1,500 and N1,700.

In Ejigbo, OSUN DEFENDER gathered that a litre of PMS at the black market was sold at N1,500 while it went for N2,000 in Ileogbo, headquarters of Ayedire local government of the state. 

Speaking with the medium, a motorist who gave his name as Olumide, said he bought a litre of fuel at the rate of N1,600 from the black market.

Olumide who stated that he was travelling to Lagos from Osogbo said he bought the fuel around Oogi, a community before Odeomu, Ayedaade local government of the state.

“It is very unfortunate. I was travelling to Lagos on Wednesday and after spending more than four hours in the queue at a filling station, I decided to leave for Lagos, hoping to get petrol along the way.

“When I got to the Oogi area, I stopped to buy something when a little boy asked if I needed fuel. At first, I was not sure because of the boy’s age but I told him I needed fuel. The boy asked me to wait and went inside a shed. 

“He came out with an older man who asked how many litres I wanted. I told him I wanted 20 litres and he said a litre is N1,600. 

“I pleaded with the guy to reduce the price for me but he didn’t bulge. I had no choice but to pay the money. This is what our government has reduced us to.”

Also, a commercial vehicle operator who was conveying one of the reporters of this medium to Osogbo from Owode Ede bought a litre of petrol at N1,700 when he ran out of fuel. 

Lamenting the cost and stress of getting PMS at the normal price at filling stations, the driver vowed to recover his money from the passengers. 

The visibly angry driver said: “I was at the filling station throughout yesterday and I couldn’t get the fuel. 

“Look at what happened now. How will I make a profit from this fuel? Passengers won’t know what we drivers are passing through to get fuel. All I know is that the passengers will be the ones to bear the brunt of the fuel I bought at that rate.”

• Attendance Drops As Parents Unable To Take Children To School

The worsening fuel scarcity left parents and guardians stranded. Some of them could not get fuel into their vehicles, while others did not get commercial vehicle and motorcyclist operators to take their children and wards to school. 

OSUN DEFENDER also noted that some of the parents could not afford the charge of the commercial vehicle operators such as the mini-bus (korope) and okada riders who have increased their charges by 100 per cent. 

Visitation to some schools in Osogbo metropolis revealed that there was a noticeable drop in the number of children who attended school at resumption on Monday. 

This is just as some teachers and other staff members of some schools could not make it to their various work places as they could not get transportation. 

Speaking with OSUN DEFENDER, the Proprietor, Olive Branches Schools, Arh. Goke Omigbodun, described the situation as terrible, saying both teachers and children of his schools were being affected by the fuel scarcity. 

Omigbodun said: “The first thing we should note is that school is just starting; naturally, when school is just starting, not all children will come to school.  But those that will come to school will come early, usually. But we have observed today (Tuesday) that quite a number of children, in fact, members of staff came late. 

“There is a particular member of staff in my school who will never be late, and he was extremely late to work today. In fact, when I was trying to find out why he was late, he just lost his calm completely. That tells you the kind of situation that this fuel scarcity can bring upon human interactions, development of delivery of social services like education and health, because some doctors and other health workers too will not be able to get to the hospital. 

“So, it is not just about school children alone, even their teachers are not able to get to school on time. It is a terrible situation and we pray this will soon be over.” 

Speaking with OSUN DEFENDER on Tuesday, the Proprietress of one of the popular private schools at Dada Estate, Osogbo, who craved anonymity said only about 65 per cent of the school children have been attending classes since resumption on Monday. 

She said: “Some of my school children did not resume on Monday and Tuesday. We called their parents to ask why they have not resumed and they explained that there was no fuel in their vehicles, some other said they didn’t get the commercial transporters to take their children to school.

“The situation is understandable, though pathetic. Three of my teachers called on Monday to explain that they couldn’t make it to school because there was scarcity of commercial vehicles. 

“If the Monday and Tuesday attendance is anything to go by, I will say 35 per cent of my school children are yet to resume, and that is due to this ongoing fuel scarcity.”

OSUN DEFENDER visited a popular Nursery, Primary and Secondary school at Omigade area, Osogbo yesterday during the assembly hour. It was observed that the assembly was not full as it used to be. 

Enquiries from the school teachers revealed that children have been coming late while a few others have not resumed.

“Our assembly is always full, but since Monday, we have been experiencing low turnout of children. Majority of them are always late to school. Even some of us (teachers) have been coming late because we do struggle to get transport to school even at high cost”, said one of the teachers.

A mother of three, Mrs Gbemisola Adeoye, told OSUN DEFENDER that she returned her children back home on Monday when she could not bear the transport cost from Owode-Ilesa road to Osogbo. 

She said: “My children are going to school in Osogbo; we waited at Owode junction for more than one hour before we got a bus. The driver charged us N500 each, even if we were going to lap ourselves, we couldn’t pay less than N1,000 to Osogbo and may pay  same amount back to Owode when we closed.

“I was having just N700 with me, so I couldn’t afford the transportation cost. I took my children back home and I explained to their teachers. May be they will resume next week; we pray things get better.”

Passengers Stranded As Commercial Transporters Struggle To Get Fuel

Thousands of passengers were left stranded by the roadside, following the scarcity of commercial transporters to convey them to their various destinations in Osogbo and other parts of the State. 

Few of the commercial vehicle operators operating were charging the passengers at exorbitant rates. 

OSUN DEFENDER noted that commercial vehicles operators had left the roads to struggle for fuel at available filling stations.

The development has resulted in the scarcity of commercial vehicles, especially the mini-bus known as Korope and Okada within and outside Osogbo metropolis.

Many of the passengers resigned to faith as they trekked to their various destinations when they could no longer wait.

Also, many of the workers at the State Secretariat, Abere couldn’t make it to the office on Monday and Tuesday because of the transportation challenge.