Petrol Hits N350, N400 Per Litre in Port Harcourt, Umuahia

Motorists and commuters in Port Harcourt are having a hectic time as the price of petrol popularly called petrol, has hit N350 per litre.

Even at that the commodity has remained scarce, creating traffic gridlock around the few filling stations that sell the product.

But the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has said there is no justification for the scarcity of petroleum products in Port Harcourt and environs.

When we went round Port Harcourt metropolis yesterday, most of the filling stations were closed but black market was thriving, with petrol selling for N350 per litre.

There were also long queues at the few filling stations where the product was available for sale, with people spending several hours before it could get to their turn. They also end up buying the product for N180 instead of the approved N87 per litre.

The black marketers took an advantage of the situation, selling the product for as much as between N6,000 and N7,000 in 20-litre jerry cans.

But DPR in the state attributed the scarcity of petrol and the attendant high cost and hardship the people of the state were experiencing to hoarding of the product by some loading depots in the state capital.

DPR Head Regional Operations, Port Harcourt, Mr Olaniyi Ibiyemi, told journalists while he was carrying out a surveillance exercise on the loading depots in the state that there was no reason for fuel to be scarce in Port Harcourt, adding that the problem was due to the attitude of some of the loading depots in the state.

In Umuahia, the Abia State capital, there was noticeable drastic reduction in the number of vehicles plying major roads in Umuahia, the capital city of Abia State following the biting fuel scarcity which has persisted for over a week now sending the price racing to the sky.

As at yesterday, a litre of petrol had jumped to N200 in the few stations selling the commodity.

Some people that called in a phone-in programme on a private radio station, Family Love FM even claimed that they paid as much as N400 per litre in the rural areas.

However, there was no price change in the NNPC stations and in stations owned by major marketers where the product was available.

THISDAY

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