Acute Fuel Scarcity Hits Rivers …20 Litres Now Sells For N7,000

Supporters of the liberation of ‘Biafra’ protesting the arrest of Director of Radio Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kalu in Port Harcourt, yesterday.

As the industrial action embarked upon by members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) enters its seventh day, in Rivers State, motorists and other fuel users suffer acute fuel scarcity in the state.
Our correspondent who monitored the situation reports that filling stations in Port Harcourt, the State capital have shut down.
The NNPC Mega Station in the Port Harcourt old township which was the only one selling products to customers as at yesterday was besieged by motorists and other fuel users.
It would be recalled that NUPENG and PENGASSAN declared industrial action in the state on Wednesday last week while the oil workers unions were picketing Weatherford Nigeria Limited over industrial issues.
As a result of the strike, marketers were stopped from loading petroleum products from the NNPC depot near the Port Harcourt Refinery, leading to serious scarcity.
The Chairman of NUPENG, Port Harcourt Zone, Mr. Godwin Eruba told newsmen on Monday that contrary to insinuations in some quarters that the strike had been suspended, that the strike was still on.
As a result, helpless motorists in the state have resorted to buying from the black marketers who have hiked fuel price to about N150.00 per litre.
Accordingly, commercial drivers in some parts of the state have also increased transport fare by between 50 and 100 per cent.
Godson Etuk, who plys Isaac Boro Park Flyover – RSUST route said they now charge N100.00 as against the usual N50.00 per drop.
The situation has also affected commuters as many now resort to trekking long distances because of the new fares.
Helpless residents have in various interviews appealed to the striking unions to consider the suffering masses who are not part of the dispute and suspend the industrial action.
They also appealed to the Rivers State Government to intervene to reduce the hardship now suffered by members of the public.