Nigerians groan as fuel scarcity hit major cities

One day after President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of fuel subsidy, Cross River State is facing a resurgence of fuel scarcity.

During his inaugural speech, President Tinubu had confidently stated that the long-standing issue of fuel susidy,which had been a lingering issue in the nation especially between Organized Labour and the Federal Government, had been resolved.

However, on Tuesday morning, in many parts of Calabar, it was observed that most of the fuel stations that sold the product 24 hours were all locked up, thereby leaving residents stranded.

Report shows that all six active fuel stations in Atimbo area of Calabar had been shut down and were not providing petroleum products to customers.

Despite the presence of fuel tankers at two of these fuel stations, they were still not selling.

In one of the fuel stations, a male official who declined to comment on the matter claimed that they were only carrying out directives.

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Mr. Effiong Nsa, a minibus driver, mentioned that most of the fuel stations that were locked up had the products and sold fuel the previous day.

He said that they only stopped selling so that they could make more profit following the declaration of the President on the issue of fuel subsidy.

“I know that all these stations have fuel. They are only trying to make more profit by buying at a subsidized price and selling at a price that would be determined after the subsidy removal.

“Right now, what I have in my vehicle is going down. Immediately it finishes, I will go and pack the vehicle at home because there is nowhere to buy the product,” he said.

On her part, Mrs. Juliana Adak, one of the passengers stranded at the Edim-Otop junction, said that the suffering was so much as she had been there for over 30 minutes without getting a bus to take her to her destination.

Adak appealed to the Federal Government to address the issue, adding that it was too early for the nation to experience fuel scarcity under the new administration.