15:T7a0,

In Kaduna, fuel scarcity and attendant long queues were witnessed yesterday in many parts of the state as motorists went through searching for where to buy petrol.

A trip round Kaduna metropolis and environs showed that many motorists were struggling to make their way into few filling stations that have fuel, while others abandoned their vehicles around stations that didn’t petrol.

In Kogi State, there was near anarchy as major filling stations including Oando, Total and Fort Oil in Lokoja, the state capital and its environs were stormed by motorcyclists and commercial drivers, who were struggling to buy fuel following artificial scarcity caused by the industrial action.

The consumers, who thronged most of the filling stations with jerry cans, were seen battling with the transporters and owners of private car to buy fuel at N120 per litre.

It took intervention of security agents to return normalcy to some filling stations following desperate attempt by the motorists and generator users to outsmart one other.

The situation in Edo State was worse as many filling stations, particularly those in the state capital, refused to sell fuel, thus led to long queues.

Some notorious black market spots along Dawson Road have also cashed in on the scarcity as they are selling petrol in jerry cans on the major road at N150 per litre.

In Jos, the capital of Plateau State, it was gathered that the commodity suddenly disappeared from filling stations with immediately the strike commenced.

Investigation revealed that most of the filling stations in Jos and environs have hiked the price of fuel to between N120 and N130 per litre.

However, effect of the strike is yet to be noticed in Imo, Ondo, Lagos and some states in the southern part of the country as fuel is still being sold at N97 per litre.

•Adapted from Newswatch Times

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