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Danfo, okada, keke operators cry as fuel scarcity bites harder

More Nigerians have reacted towards the ongoing fuel scarcity in the country. In this chat with ENCOMIUM Weekly, some transporters express their views on the issue, how it is affecting their business and how they have been coping. These are their comments…

 

Moruf Aregbe – Personally, it’s very hard for me to cope with the fuel scarcity. Normally it usually last for about two weeks or a month, this time it’s getting longer. For two months now it has been very hard to get petrol easily. I’m fed up.

 

Michael Jaiyeola – The situation is getting out f hand. I think our leaders no longer care about us. It is up to two months now since we have been experiencing this. It is hard to cope, really hard. We don’t even make profit like we do before. How do the government expect us to feed our family, this is bad. They should help.

 

Marcus Udoh – I was thinking the change will come as a magic, but what we are seeing since we voted for change as been unbearable. It is very hard to cope with this fuel scarcity. Federal government should help us out of this.

 

Deji Babajide – I understand the situation perfectly, many people find it difficult to know this that the scarcity we are facing is as a result of the past corruption. I believe when the change we seek is working in its full shape, everything will be fine.

 

Kinsley Bright – It is very hard to cope with this fuel scarcity of a thing. I have parked my tricycle for three days, because there is no fuel to work. The situation is really not encouraging. We are begging the government to help us out.

 

Mr. Obinna – The ongoing fuel scarcity is really setting back our daily activities. There’s no hope if the problem will be solved till May. It’s really not good enough. We work just two hours with our bus while queuing for more than five hours to get petrol. It’s really frustrating.

 

Oyeleke Kayode – I’m fed up, the situation is becoming something else. We have pleaded to government to help us out of this fuel scarcity, but nothing is been done yet. All we need now is prayer to God to help us with the situation.

 

Mr. Shehu Mogaji – I have been looking for where to get fuel but to no avail. I am a family man; no fuel, no food, I have not been able to go to my normal work since two days just because of the scarcity of fuel. The last time I got the fuel was around N120 and I stayed for over two hours. God should help us in this dilemma.

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Tony – There is no passenger for us because of the fuel scarcity, all these cars queued from Mobil down to Marwa garage. It is really hard. For the past 15 years now, we have fuel and we have been suffering for it, I don’t think anything can be done.

 

Christopher Amadi – The fuel scarcity doesn’t pay us the transporters. For instance, as at MEF (Agege, Lagos), we bought a litre for N125 and coming into that meter, the meter is not up to one litre and they are selling it like that for us. As a NAPEP man, each passenger we carry is N50, before we make the money we used in the purchase of fuel, the fuel most time have gone off. I can only suggest that since the problem is from the power from above, they are the ones to proffer solution.

 

Mr. Adams – I am an okada rider, as you can see, I have been in one place since, I don’t want to be going about without passenger, because I don’t want to waste my fuel. I only stay in a place to source for customer because if I go about, I will end up exhausting the fuel without getting any passenger and to get back the fuel becomes  a big problem.

 

Saviour John – I don’t know how much they are selling fuel here, I just decided to join the queue if I’ll be lucky enough to get fuel. This is how we have been coping, anywhere we see fuel, we join the queue and have faith that it will get to our turn. Business has been bad. Passengers have not been helping matters too because they won’t allow us to change price despite the fact that they know that fuel is scarce. That is change for you.

 

Nasirudeen Ahmed – We cannot say because fuel is scarce now that we will not look for it, it’s not possible. My wife and children are at home, they will eat, and my children will go to  school, I’ll pay for house rent, NEPA bill and so on. What will a man do. We will keep trying our best and pray things get better.

 

Kadiri – We are coping but the only thing that made the situation worse is the hike in food prices. Had it been food is not costly, we wouldn’t have felt it too much. But we still thank God and we also pray that the government will hear our cry and resolve this fuel scarcity issue.

 

Musa – I just have to keep pushing hard. I came from Bauchi, started to look for work in Lagos. When I joined my friends somewhere around Isale Haruna, I was fetching water for people before one oga that likes me very much took me to his friend who gave me this okada (bike). I started paying him little by little and I’m not through with the payment before this fuel scarcity started. I have to carry any passenger I see, even where I’m not supposed to go, I go there. I suffer a lot to get fuel every day.

 

Wale – I’m not coping at all. I am doing this business to train myself in school. I attend National Open University. Ever since the fuel scarcity started, things have been hard. And in this kind of business, no fuel, no work, no food. The government should help, we are not coping.

 

Taju Olalere – Business has been dull since this thing (fuel scarcity) started. Even if you manage to get fuel and you start the day’s business by picking people from different bus stop, if it happens that you don’t see enough passengers and you want to wait a little bit if more will come, those in the bus already will start complaining. They expect that even if it is only three of them in the vehicle, you should just take them to where they are going.

 

Oluwaseun – We have been passing through many problems in this country. As you can see, I am using the fuel that I had yesterday. If it finishes, no more work for today. I will just go and queue in filling station which is not meant to be so. But I thank God.

 

Mr. Oluwatoyin Kabiru – This problem has been causing many things in my house. I have not paid my children’s school fees. It is hard to give them money to eat. I am just tired for this situation. It is only God that can take control.

 

Mr. Sani – There is no fuel, we are suffering in this country. To get fuel to work in a day, we normally struggle for it the previous day. What I know is that, there are some people who want to spoil Buhari’s administration, but God will guide him through.

 

Mr. Folohunso – I am very upset about the situation of this country. It is difficult for us to get fuel and it is affecting our business. It’s only God that can take control.

 

Mr. Shakiru – The fuel scarcity is just affecting our business. Instead of us gaining, we are losing. There are no money, no market. Government should provide abundant fuel for us so that we can do our business and feed our family.

 

Mr. Allen – It is ‘Baba’ that want to kill us in this country. We voted for change, we cannot see the change. Things is just getting worse. I am not working because there is no fuel. Even if there is fuel, no customer because there is no money. We have increased the transport fare to N70 from N60, all because of scarcity of fuel, still we are not gaining. It is only God that can help us in this country.

 

-CHIKA OKORIE, ALIMI SHUKURAT, OLUWA FEMI SOEWU AND AZEEZAT KAREEM

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