Business
PH Residents Lament High Cost Of Fuel
Port Harcourt residents in
cluding motorists have lamented the high cost premium motor spirit (petrol) in the preceding week in the state despite efforts by the Federal Government to end scarcity of petroleum product on April 7 across the country.
Our correspondent who visited most of the filling stations in Port Harcourt and other parts of the state saw majority of the filling stations closed because of lack of product supply while few filling stations sold the product between N270 –N300 per litre.
When our correspondent visited the Yaman filling station along the East-West near Eleme junction, the pump attendant simply indentified as Lucky said they are selling at N270 per litre while total filling station, NNPC filling station and Ifenow filling station along Eleme Road were closed down due to none availability of the product.
The Total filling station manager, Mr Samuel Ekpeme said that for two weeks the station has not been supplied or allocated any product, adding that whenever the station receives petrol they will sell at the normal approved price per litre.
Also on Friday all the filling station along the Oyigbo road were closed due to none availability of the product. The popular StockGap filling station that sells at the normal rate was not an exception as the manager told The Tide that the station was expecting product on Saturday.
Mr Nelson Emokpane a black market dealer along Oyigbo road said that he bought a litre for N270 at the black market.
However the situation in the state has degenerated to the level were most commuters now cover long distances on foot.
On Friday virtually most commercial vehicles were off the road in search of petroleum product. The few plying Aba road charged high transport fare to meet up the cost of the fuel.
Mr Michael Ogbom also told The Tide that he trekked from Eleme junction to market junction having waited for over an hour.
Also speaking Mr Chuks Nnamdi a commercial driver urged the government to do something about the situation as Nigerians are going through difficulties right now.
He said most drivers have parked their vehicles off the road stressing that families are passing through pains.
However, when The Tide visited the NNPC mega station at station road there was the usual rowdiness that signifiers the availability of petroleum product.
It is generally believed that the situation might improve during the week as the federal government said vessels with 216.7 million litres of petrol had berthed of Lagos jetties and are discharging the product to states across the country.
Philip Okparaji
Kenya made it a clean sweep at the Berlin Marathon with Sabastian Sawe winning the men’s race and Rosemary Wanjiru triumphing in the women’s.
Sawe finished in two hours, two minutes and 16 seconds to make it three wins in his first three marathons.
The 30-year-old, who was victorious at this year’s London Marathon, set a sizzling pace as he left the field behind and ran much of the race surrounded only by his pacesetters.
Japan’s Akasaki Akira came second after a powerful latter half of the race, finishing almost four minutes behind Sawe, while Ethiopia’s Chimdessa Debele followed in third.
“I did my best and I am happy for this performance,” said Sawe.
“I am so happy for this year. I felt well but you cannot change the weather. Next year will be better.”
Sawe had Kelvin Kiptum’s 2023 world record of 2:00:35 in his sights when he reached halfway in 1:00:12, but faded towards the end.
In the women’s race, Wanjiru sped away from the lead pack after 25 kilometers before finishing in 2:21:05.
Ethiopia’s Dera Dida followed three seconds behind Wanjiru, with Azmera Gebru, also of Ethiopia, coming third in 2:21:29.
Wanjiru’s time was 12 minutes slower than compatriot Ruth Chepng’etich’s world record of 2:09:56, which she set in Chicago in 2024.