Lokoja-Okene bound drivers expressed
disgust on Sunday as fuel hit at least
N230 per litre in Okene and Lokoja local
government areas of Kogi State.
A DAILY POST correspondent, who
visited some filling stations in Okene on
Sunday, reports that the current scarcity
of fuel in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital,
has extended to Okene, with major
filling stations without fuel to dispense
to motorists.
In a few filling stations where fuel was
sold, it was at a cost of at least N230
per litre, while some drivers said the
price could be as high as N270 in other
filling stations in the area.
Commenting on the development, a
Lokoja-Okene bound commercial driver,
Issa Mohammed, described scarcity of
fuel in Okene as worse compared to
Lokoja, where the product is sold
between N220and N225 per litre.
“The current hike in the price of fuel,
especially in Lokoja and Okene, is fast
going beyond the purchasing capacity of
an average commercial driver to cope
with.
“Hardly can any commercial driver in
Lokoja and Okene can boast of making
a tangible profit at the end of the day’s
business as all our proceeds go for the
purchase of fuel which continues to hit
the roof,” Mohammed told DAILY POST.
“Many of us are still in job because we
have no other profession to fall back to,
not that there is much profitability in the
job again.
“We will be happy if the government can
help us check black marketers in the
fuel business so we can at least make
some profit or break even in this
business.
“The terrible hike in motor spare parts,
accelerated wear and tear of our
vehicles, and bad road are also issues
giving us sleepless nights as much of
our proceeds go for the purchase of
spare parts and repairs of our vehicles.
Mohamed’s colleagues, who aligned
with his observation on the issue, called
on the federal government to supply
more fuel to the filling stations as a
natural way of forcing down the price of
fuel to the official level.
Our correspondent reports that transport
fare, which used to be N500 or N600
from Lokoja to Okene (70kms), as the
case had been a few months ago, has
risen to N1,500 per trip and, in some
instances, N1,800.
Commercial and tricycle operators in
Lokoja and Okene are not spared, as
they have also hiked their services by 50
to 80 percent, citing the skyrocketing
price of fuel.
Some passengers who also complained
of the hike in transport fare,in separate
interviews with DAILY POST, called on
NNPC limited to direct its searchlight on
shylock dealers selling fuel beyond the
official pump price of N179 per litre in
the area.
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Wahala Bello is not yet done with them Kogites!