Some dealers of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as fuel, have been making huge returns following the return of long queues in the Gombe metropolis.
Our correspondent reports that fuel from the black marketers is sold at N300 per litre while a few petrol stations placed theirs at N180 or N200 per litre.
One Adamu Haruna, an operator around the Bauchi/Gombe Expressway, said he makes no less than N100,000 in a week since the scarcity in the state.
Haruna revealed that the price goes for N250 or N350 per litre, stressing that they were saving motorists undue minutes waiting to be attended to at petrol stations.
He said they sell unadulterated products to customers, noting that they sometimes settled patroling security operatives.
According to him, “I now sell at N300 per litre and there are usually buyers willing to patronise us. The business has been booming since the issue of adulterated fuel or scarcity started. I now make about N100,000 in a week.”
When contacted, a source at the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission said they were not oblivious of the sufferings of residents, adding that it was a nationwide challenge.
He said, “It is not only Gombe. It is also nationwide. Our own is to monitor to make sure that the trucks supply without it being adulterated.”
Asked if the commission was aware that some stations were hoarding, the source added, “I don’t know about that but we were out on surveillance last week and even on Saturday.”
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