· Travellers groan as petrol sells N500 per litre
· Business owners count lossesj
· Politicians fear attack, avoid campaigns
The South-East and South-South of the country are currently under a siege following the lingering hardship experienced by the residents, due to the persisting scarcity of fuel, the redesigned naira and the spate of insecurity in the two regions.
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The scarcity of petroleum products and the non-availability of the redesigned naira notes have thrown the people of the two regions into untold suffering, as the scarcities have triggered an unprecedented inflation in the prices of commodities in the markets as well as increase in transport fares.
This has prompted some commercial drivers in Enugu metropolis on Thursday called on the Federal Government to immediately find a lasting solution to the rising cost of petroleum products to avert breakdown of law and order in the state.
The drivers expressed their views in the aftermath of Wednesday’s peaceful protest in the area over the sales of a litre of fuel for between N450 and N500 at the fuel stations in the state.
One of the commercial drivers who gave his name as Sunday, lamented the high cost of filling his car’s fuel tank, saying he wondered how he could get passengers to pay for transport fares at the current rate. He warned that another nationwide demonstration might break out, except there is a plot to disrupt the forthcoming elections.
A member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) at Abakpa, Nnamdi Akpa decried low patronage by commuters as they resorted to trekking or seeking vehicles along the road to save money rather than boarding them at the parks. This, he said, affects the union’s revenue generation. The union has since hiked its fares by more than 100 per cent.
A commuter, Emmanuel Nwankwo, who spoke with our reporter said, “I am a civil servant. I earn around N56, 000 monthly, and I live in Nsukka and work in Enugu. How can I cope? Instead of boarding vehicles at the park to pay N2, 000, I wait along Nike road where private vehicle owners charge N700 naira when they pick passengers.
“If I am in a hurry, I enter Keke to Ugwuogo at N400, and then pay N400 to get to Nsukka. The impact of this hardship is that civil servants won’t be going to work regularly. If I go twice a week, I have tried.”
Our correspondent reports that Wednesday’s protest grounded vehicular activities in Enugu metropolis. It also forced residents back home to avoid being lynched in case the protest turned violent.
The case is similar in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where commercial drivers also buy a litre of fuel for N500 even as commuters in the oil rich city go through hell to access vehicles to their workplaces because of the hike.
Chairman of IPMAN in Rivers State, Dr Joseph Obele, said the landing cost of PMS was currently over N500 per litre and it was unsustainable for the government to keep subsidizing the product for Nigerians at N165 per litre.
Obele expressed optimism that the Port Harcourt refinery which is under rehabilitation will come on stream in the first quarter of this year to ameliorate the situation.
In Warri, fares shot up for motorists in the city. Delta state woke up to another sad reality as a litre of petrol sold for N500. The ugly development immediately caused a hike in the transport fare to every route by commercial tricycle operators and motorcyclists.
There has been instability in the price of petrol in the last one month with several filling stations selling at rates they chose. Some sold a litre for N290 while others did at N340.
Motorists and commuters have continued to lament the increase, adding that they were also disturbed by the long queues at the filling stations.
The scarcity of the redesigned naira notes in the South-south has been a major source of worry for the residents. Their main concern is the exchange rate at which Nigerians were being compelled to exchange the old notes with the new ones.
There is palpable fear in the regions of the Southeast and south-south over the spate of insecurity as unknown gunmen have continued to unleash mayhem. The major fear is about the chances of insecurity adversely affecting the coming general elections.
Daily reports of killings and attacks on INEC facilities have also continued to send warnings to politicians and campaigners that the elections may be endangered. The major concern is that the security agencies have been unable to bring suspects to book in most of the killings and attacks.
The latest in the spree of attacks on INEC facilities was the attack on the commission’s office at Ojoto, in the Idemili South Local Government Area and the Nnobi Police Station and a residential building at the station in Anambra State.
Some yet-to-be-identified assailants have attacked the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission at Ojoto, in the Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State. Sources said the hoodlums burnt the INEC’s office before proceeding to the police station, where they killed the teenage boy and injured another girl.
INEC had recorded no fewer than 30 attacks on its facilities across 11 states that make up the south-south and south-east in the last four years.