Encomium
…Petrol not sold in kegs or generator fuel tanks
Small businesses are gasping, out of breath and fainting as petrol stations refuse to sell in kegs or generator fuel tanks in some parts of LAGOS. And with power outages biting, many entrepreneurs, including artisans, have scaled down operations. Many have, however, stopped business.
Today (Saturday, April 9, 2016), petrol is still scarce in Lagos as kilometer long queues dominate the stations dispensing fuel. And more than two-thirds of stations are under lock and key.
The pain of getting petrol is slightly better as stations dispensing are far organized.
Those who are desperate to keep their troubled businesses going buy at the black market for about N150 per litre or above ( official price is N86.50).
At Ogba area of Ikeja, black market at a station on Yaya Abatan is N150 per litre, but the metres have been adjusted. For every ten litres you buy, you are short-changed about three litres.
And with no choice available for entrepreneurs eager to keep production on, no help is on the horizon.
Dr. Ibe Kachikwu who calls himself a technocrat is not different from all the incompetent helmsmen of the national petrol corporation who presided over fuel scarcity in an oil producing country in the past. His promise that scarcity would end on Thursday (April 7, 2016), was unfulfilled.
Excuses invented are no longer accepted by Nigerians who are suffering from all fronts. The All Progressives Congress of President Muhammadu Buhari is not enjoying the sympathy of tormented Nigerians who voted for change.
