The pain and discomfort of Nigerians that have trailed the lingering fuel scarcity in the country is perhaps why many seem to have given up in this administration, which is less than a year old. Nigerians are going through untold hardship as many businesses have been grounded in the present petrol crisis bedeviling the country.
Most motorists have parked their cars at home and resorted to other means of getting to work, with the dogged ones spending hours on the queue in their efforts to full their tanks. But while the focus has primarily been on the fuel crisis, the case has been further worsened by the incessant power outages as electricity supply further dropped to 2,600 MW, with the supervising agencies unable to give lucid reasons for the continued drop in power supply.
The situation has left many parts of the country in perpetual darkness, leaving some with no other option than to compete with motorists in filling stations, all in an effort to get fuel for their generators.
Although, some Nigerians have resorted to buying fuel between N150 and N300 from black marketers as against the N86.50 per litre fixed by the government, the fuel scarcity situation has made life difficult for the populace. Unfortunately, the harsh condition of the fuel scarcity has taken its toll on fuel attendants as many have received all sort of bashing from people who took their annoyance a step further. There have also been reported cases of death, birth, injuries, chaos and many more in filling stations. This is why NAIJ.com has put together a roundup of events that have transpired across filling stations in the new month as the fuel scarcity continues to bite harder.
1. Police kill two fuel black marketers in FESTAC
What can be regarded as commotion occurred today, April 5, in Festac Town Lagos as two fuel black marketers were reportedly killed by a task force made of police and civil defence officials. The killing of the marketers occurred around 1pm at the Forte oil petrol station also known as AP bus stop located a 21 Road I close.
NAIJ.com reporter at the scene of the event gathered that trouble began when some black marketers resisted efforts by the task force who were seizing petroleum products from road side vendors and giving them out free to motorcycle riders.
When the security agents got to Forte oil petrol station, they became overwhelmed by several black marketers and began to shoot sporadically to disperse the crowd, killing two persons in the process. Angered by the conduct of the security officials, some persons tried to set fire to the petrol station as a means of venting their anger, but this made the police civil defence officials fire more rounds into the air to disperse the angry crowd. One black marketer named Shina was hit on the buttocks by a stray bullet, while others persons suffered varying degree of injuries in the process of running to safety.
2. Black marketers batter NNPC sales represantative in Osun
A group of hoodlums attacked a sales representative of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) at the Mega station in Osogbo, Osun state, on Friday, April 1. It was gathered that Wale Olayinka was working, when gangsters broke into the station and pounced on him, repeatedly kicking and punching him in the face until he collapsed.
The report was also confirmed by the new commandant of the Nigerian security and civil defence corps in the state, Olusola Ayodele. He said: “Some thugs came and beat the NNPC official up. It is wrong for anybody to take the laws into their own hands. No matter what happens, you don’t have any right to beat attendants or their bosses.”
3. Filling station managers arrested for hoarding fuel In a bid to salvage the situation caused by unavailability of fuel, the Rapid Response Squad of the police division arrested managers of filling station hoarding fuel. The unavailability of fuel has affected the country but black marketers in conjunction with managers of filling station have been making things harder by selling at high prices. The filling stations would sell to the black marketers who in turn will sell to buyers at a higher cost.
Tunji Disu who is the commander of the RRS ordered the arrest of the manager of a filling station in Otedola/Omole along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, on Tuesday April 05.
4. Hoodlums slit throat of young man in filling station
Tragedy struck in the Oyingbo area of Lagos state when hoodlums stormed a Total filling station and killed a man simply identified as Sijuade. The Punch reports that the incident happened on Friday, April 1 when the victim was at the filling station in Kano Street with some friends to buy fuel in some jerry cans. The hoodlums stormed the place and dragged him away. They reported gorged out his eyes before slitting his throat.
Residents were forced to flee and take cover after the attack and it was reported at Denton police division. Oyela Sodiq who resided in the area said Sijuade was a street boy but was not known to cause problem. He said the victim’s brother, Ibikunle rushed him to the hospital but he was pronounced dead.
5. Woman goes into labour and gives birth in Taxi Park
The fuel scarcity might be biting down hard, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for a heavily pregnant lady. According to Facebook user Leo Spartani, a heavily pregnant woman walking past a taxi park suddenly went into labour and was literally saved because of a very long queue of people waiting to buy fuel from a filling station.
The pregnant woman was said to be walking past Anthony bus-stop taxi park near the VIO/LASTMA office in Lagos, around 7am today, April 5, when she suddenly went into labour. According to Leo, the people waiting on the queue rallied round to ensure the woman had a safe delivery, right there in theTAXI PARK!!! The fuel scarcity which has been on for several months has left many businesses grounded.
However, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, the minister of state for Petroleum has stated that the fuel scarcity would be over today, April 6, in Lagos and Abuja, while other cities in the country like Port Harcourt, Warri, Sokoto and Kano would begin to experience improvement during the weekend.
Source- Naij.com
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