Taxi and kabu-kabu operators appear to be among the worst hit by the on-going fuel scarcity in the Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

Checks early this afternoon by Transport & Business Express showed that the number of taxis (both painted and unpainted) on the streets have drastically reduced as the fuel scarcity completes its third day.

For example, at the popular Nicon Junction (Shehu Shagari by Nnamdi Azikiwe Way), the taxi park was a ghost of itself but the same could not be said of the bus section, which still had a good number of operators loading and discharging passengers.

A lone taxi driver accosted by Transport & Business Express as he was locking his car said: “We don’t have fuel.”

At the bus section, Transport & Business Express sought to know how they are able to get fuel while their taxi counterparts are not.

“You know that taxis have smaller fuel tank, so the fuel they bought must have finished,” one bus operator said. “Besides, we also buy in gallons and refuel when the need arises,” he added.

As previously reported by Transport & Business Express, Abuja has experienced fuel scarcity since Wednesday – two days after the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) began a seven-day warning strike by suspending lifting of petroleum products to Abuja. The strike is part of efforts by oil marketing companies, depot and jetty owners under the umbrella of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), and Jetties and Petroleum Tank Farms Owners of Nigeria (JEPTFON) to get the Federal Government to pay their members all outstanding subsidy claims amounting to N200 billion.

After initial grandstanding, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Finance, is presently meeting with representatives of the striking oil marketers in Abuja. The ministry had earlier denied the allegation of the oil marketers, accusing them of blackmail.

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