By Eboagwu Austine N. Monday
Residents of Kano metropolis and passengers from nearby towns such as Wudil, are stranded over the non-availability of vehicles as fuel scarcity looms in the state.
Fears over increase in the pump price of petrol which has been sold at N165 per litre has affected motorists and business operations in the state.
It was observed that over 50 filling stations from Wudil to Kano along Maiduguri federal highway had been shut, with only six selling fuel.
Some motorists expressed the fear that fuel pump price increment has caused the abrupt unavailability of vehicles for passengers to board.
Abdullahi Idris, a motorist, who conveys passengers from Wudil to Kano, said since Saturday, there had been a scarcity of vehicles for passengers travelling from Wudil to Kano city.
“Even yesterday (Saturday) many people were stranded because there were no vehicles due to the fuel scarcity. I heard that there is a plan to increase the fuel pump price to N300,” he said.
Another motorist who conveys passengers from Hotoro NNPC park to Wudil, Isah Mamman, said the issue of fuel scarcity is something that was created intentionally.
“Every year there will be fuel scarcity around November and December. Why is that so? Because the government wants to increase the fuel pump price so that at the end of the day after people suffer, they will not complain,” he said
However, the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari, recently said there are over 1.7 billion litres of petrol in stock and another 2.3bn litres coming, and dismissed speculations of any shortage in the supply of petrol.
