Black markters in Lagos state are currently enjoying a field day with high profitability following the protracted fuel scarcity rocking the country.

As petrol scarcity bites harder across the country, hawkers of the product, popularly called black marketers, are recording a boom in business.

Sunday Vanguard investigation revealed that a litre of petrol, which officially should sell for N86.50, now sells for N180 and above at the black market. Bad enough, further investigation on the fuel situation in Lagos metropolis showed that most filling stations were not selling as they remained shut,
having run out of stock due to acute shortage of the product at the depots.

Many families, who wished to travel for Easter celebrations, also shelved the idea as it appeared there was no quick fix to the problem. Also, prices of goods soared, a situation attributed to the petrol crisis while marketers blamed the situation on government’s decision to make the NNPC the sole importer of petrol.

Some of the stations in Lagos closed to motorists in the past one week include Mobil, MRS , AP, Oando and NNPC franchise stations among others. Officials at the filling stations argued that the issue of forex restriction had also led to huge disruption of supply of the product to their stations.

Although many motor parks in Lagos metropolis were filled with large crowds of intending travellers for Easter celebrations, only few vehicles were made available by bus operators despite the hike in fares which rose up to 50 percent. For instance, the transport fare of N3,500 from Lagos to Onitsha went up to between N4,500 and N5,500 by bus.

The situation left many passengers stranded at Ojota, Maza Maza and Ojuelegba parks. One of the passengers, who simply identified himself as Papa Ejima, while sharing his experience, said, “The price of everything is getting out of hand. I am not really impressed by government efforts aimed at addressing the problem. Even the transporters have run out of ideas on how to handle the situation. The few travellers who can afford the high fares still cannot get vehicles to travel due to acute fuel scarcity. I just can’t understand the kind of country that we are running”.