By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
Most filling stations in Lokoja, kogi state,on Sunday afternoon, were devoid of long queue of vehicles, due to what has been described as a sudden re-emergence of sale of petrol to motorists and other users of the product.
A correspondent of the Reporters who visited some filling stations in Lokoja between 2.30 p.m and 4.30 a.m in the day, reports that petrol attendants at A.Y.M Shafa, HABSO, NMCPC, Rano were seen dispensing the product to motorists, motorists and tricycle operators with ease.
Our Correspondent further reports that A.Y.M Shafa sold at the product at the official pump price of N 165 per litre.
Some of the motorists, who spoke with our Correspondent, however,said that other filling stations sold the product at N180 and N250 per litre while black marketers sold the product for as high as N300 per litre.
Consequently, transport fare in the state capital, especially with operators of Kekenapep, has also shown reasonable down word trend.
Some members of the public,in their separate interview with the online publication expressed sigh at the ease in the scarcity of petrol and called on state holders in the sale of petroleum products to find lasting solution to the scarcity in the country.
One of the petrol attendants at A.Y.M Shafa at Ganaja junction,who spoke with The Reporters on the condition of anonymity, described the sudden disappearance of the three-day long queue of vehicles at the filling stations in the area as a”wave”.
“We are not sure if the long gueue of vehicles will not reappear as the next day. Scarcity of fuel has become a pendulum that swings and is like waves.”
Meanwhile, it is a different ball game for users of gas and karosene,who expressed concern over the astronomical increase in the prices of the two petroleum products in Lokoja.
Investigation by our Correspondent revealed that while karosene has hit the root with N750 per litre and N1,100 per litre kilogram at the black market, that of gas went for N750 as at the time of this report on Sunday.
Our findings show that the prices of gas and kerosene were below N200 and N300 per litre, few years ago in the area.
Users of diesel said they were also not finding it easy buying the product as the litre of the product has skyrocketed to N800.
An FM Radio station in Lokoja was off the air for a week about two months ago, due to what its management described as the high cost of operating the station on diesel.
