Black Marketers Sell Fuel For N2000 As Fuel Scarcity Bites In Sokoto

Residents of Sokoto State persist in expressing their anguish over the severe hardship they endure due to the fuel scarcity affecting all areas of the state, significantly impeding businesses and daily activities.

Commuters in the state said most filling stations are locked under the guise that they lack product to dispense, while black marketers are selling a litre of petrol between N2,000 and N2,500 across the metropolis.

Some residents who spoke with our correspondent called on the government to intervene to bring the situation under control so as not to degenerate.

They said the situation has started affecting business activities and making life difficult for people as the black market price of N2,500 per litre is becoming scarce and this is bringing business and other activities to a standstill in the metropolis.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has blamed the fuel queues that have resurfaced in Lagos, Abuja and other states of the Federation on “logistics issues”.

The company, however, said the issues have been resolved.

“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) wishes to clarify that the tightness in the supply of Premium Motor Spirit currently being experienced in some areas across the country is as a result of logistics issues and that they have been resolved,” the company said in a statement on Thursday evening.

“It also wishes to reiterate that the prices of petroleum products are not changing.”

NNPCL called on Nigerians to “avoid panic buying as there is a sufficiency of products in the country”.