This comes in the wake of the announcement of the subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu during his inauguration Monday.
It was gathered that while most of the filling stations within the metropolis had shut their doors since Friday in anticipation of the new price regime, the few ones that sold the commodity witnessed long queues, with some of them selling for between N250 and N350 per litre before the announcement of the subsidy removal.
Although, petrol stations in major cities of Onitsha, Nnewi, Ekwulobia and some parts of Awka remained shut as a result of the May 30 sit-at-home declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra to mark Biafra Day.
Some of the few residents, who defied the sit-at-home order resorted to panic buying as they buy the product between N500 to N700 from black market dealers.
Also, the few tricycle operators which defied the sit-at-home hiked their fares by up to 100 percent as distances that were hitherto N100 became N200 as a result of the development.
A restaurant operator in Onitsha, Mama Chisom, said, “Since the announcement of the subsidy removal, filling stations have stopped dispensing fuel so that they will be able to adjust their prices according to the new market price.
“I bought the product for N700 per litre today from the black market to enable me run my generator for my business. No filling station is selling and the black marketers who has stored the product hiked their prices. This is terrible. We don’t know how tomorrow will look like by the time normal activities resume after the sit-at-home.”
A commercial motorist, Kenechukwu Okonkwo, said, “It’s like the petrol filling stations operators had the inkling that the subsidy removal will be announced most of them have stopped dispensing the products since Friday waiting for the new development.
“Getting the product has been difficult since Friday. Monday and Tuesday were sit-at-home. We don’t know how tomorrow will look like by the time full activities resume. We do not want more hardship than what we are currently experiencing.”
Our correspondent also observed as few filling stations which started dispensing fuel later in the evening on Tuesday were selling the product for N500 as they have adjusted their pump prices.
Two petrol stations – Altrac Filling Station and Hanaco have adjusted their meters to read N500 per litre as of 7:32 pm on Tuesday with few buyers besieging the places to buy the product.
