Motorists and commuters are feeling the pains of moving from one place to another due to the daily increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit otherwise known as petrol.
The price of petrol has been fluctuating at various petrol stations across the state on a daily basis as of Friday, the price has suddenly rose to N900 at various petrol stations and N1,300 at black market.
Most petrol stations visited in the major cities of Onitsha, Ekwulobia, Nnewi and Awka, sold the product between N880 to N900 per litre while only NNPCL were seen selling below the N880, although with long queue of vehicles.
As a result of the development, transportation fares have remained unstable as it continued to soar increase, as commuters now pay far higher.
This, it was gathered has impacted negatively on the prices of communities especially foodstuffs as food vendors have also continued to hike their prices on the excuse of “high cost of transportation”.
Checks by our correspondent showed that in most cases, commuters were always stranded at the bus stops and motor parks as commercial drivers have resorted to only operate during peak hours in order to recoup the high amount of money they spent on fuel faster.
Speaking to our correspondent in separate interviews, some commercial drivers said that the current price of petrol has forced them to jerk up prices and also operate only peak hours of the day.
A commercial bus driver, Chinedu Obinwa, who plies the ever busy Upper Iweka-Nnewi routes, said “The situation is currently making life difficult for us, as we spend most of our earnings in repairing of vehicles and purchasing of fuel.
“As a result of this, most of us have resorted to operating only during peak hours so as to quickly recoup the money we spend on fuel. Drivers are now working for filling stations owners and spare parts dealers, from the little we make a day.
“The bulk of this money goes into into fixing of our vehicles and buying of petrol. Passengers no longer used to be much on the road as people are now restricting their movements due to high cost of transportation. There is no more money in transportation business, I hope government finds solution to tame this regular increment of petrol.”
A mini-bus driver, Ike Ebuka, also appealed to Federal Government to immediately fix its refineries, adding that if the refineries were working, the product will be more affordable by the common man.
“If we stop importing fuel and fix our refinery, buying fuel will be more affordable, better than what what we are currently buying it.
“We are now struggling with paying of our bills and up keep, passengers are no longer on the road as it’s used to be, the few ones will price life out of you.
“I don’t blame these set of passengers, the current economic hardship is telling on everyone, government should please, do something to help the masses.”
Also, a manager at a petrol station in Onitsha(name withheld) said, “We received a call from a sister petrol station yesterday (Thursday), informing us to suspend operations temporarily and be ready to adjust our meter to reflect the new price that the pump price has been quietly increased by the NNPCL.
“We did not sell fuel on Thursday because of the directive but by today(Friday), we were selling at N920 as we were instructed to do. Our action depends on the signals we get, it is not by our making.”