Commercial motorcyclists lament scarcity, high cost of fuel

Commercial motorcycle and tricycle operators in Kaduna State have lamented the high cost of fuel, a development they said has negatively affected their business, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Some of the operators bore their minds in separate interviews with NAN on Friday in Kaduna.

Checks conducted by NAN revealed a high volume of passengers going to work and their business premises stranded following the scarcity of fuel within the metropolis.

Also, only a handful of commercial motorcyclists were seen plying the major streets as a number of filling stations were not dispensing fuel.

Mr Yunusa Abdullah, a commercial motorcyclist told NAN that a few filling stations which had the product hiked the pump price to between N750 and N810 per liter as against  N620 a few days ago.

“Some of the stations have deliberately closed down in the guise of unavailability of product.

“The situation has forced some of us to park our tricycles (Keke) at home until everything normalises,” he said.

Another operator, Mr Sunday Njokwu, on his part  said that the passengers have to pay twice the amount they were paying hitherto to get to their destinations following hike of transport fares.

“It is not our fault because some of  those who cannot afford to 1ueue at the filling stations buy fuel for as much as N1100 per litre.

“As it is, the government would have to intervene as quickly as possible so that the situation doesn’t get out of hand,” Njokwu urged.

Allah-Magani Isa,another  ‘Keke’ operator, said the scarcity and high cost of fuel had affected his daily return, adding, “I find it difficult to meet up remittance to the owner.

“I have to force myself to work extra hours so as to make ends meet and provide for my family as well,” he said.

A resident, Mohammed Amin, said he bought half a gallon of fuel which amounted to two liters for N2, 200.

He said he was considering dropping his vehicle and opting for commercial means of transportation if the problem persisted.

Mr Abel Musa, a resident of Narayi urged the authorities concerned to take immediate measures so as to ameliorate the suffering of the masses.

“You can literally see commuters trekking under the scorching sun to either their work or business places unfortunately due to the high cost of transport,” Musa said.

A fuel attendant at one of the filling stations in Kaduna, who sought for anonymity told NAN that some managements of the stations were skeptical about the Federal Government’s move to soon launch the operation of additional refineries in the country. (NAN)