BY TIMOTHY AGBOR
Long queues for Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol have resurfaced in some parts of the country shortly after President Bola Tinubu announced the cancellation of petrol subsidy,
Tinubu made the pronouncement in his inaugural speech on Monday.
“On fuel subsidy, unfortunately, the budget before I assumed office is that no provision is there for fuel subsidy. So fuel subsidy is gone,” the president had said.
As soon as Tinubu made the declaration, it was observed that some filling stations in Lagos, Abuja, Edo, Osun among other States were closed while others that dispensed petrol had large queues of cars and people, lining up to fill their tanks and kegs.
At BlocOil filling station, Satellite Town, Lagos, customers were seen waiting their turn to buy the product.
Similarly, at a branch of TotalEnergies in Alakija, a larger crowd was seen, with the queues already spreading to the road as of the time of filing this report.
Also, Peridot filling station, at Festac link road, housed vehicles whose owners wanted to fill their tanks.
In Edo State State, petrol price increased immediately Nigerians embarked on panic buying as other filling stations hoarded their products.
“I just bought furl this evening at the rate of N270,” a resident of Benin told The Point.
In Abuja, a branch of Nipco filling station located on Kada Road, and Mobil filling station in Mabushi, vehicular queues stretched onto the roads, in efforts to buy petrol.
The situation was grimmer in Ogun State as it was observed that from Arepo to Mowe, only three, out of over 20 functioning filling stations, were willing to sell the commodity.
At Asharami, Satellite filling stations in Ibafo and Mowe, long queues were seen.
Residents said that most filling stations decided to stop selling when they were informed of Tinubu’s speech on petrol subsidy removal.
“Some of the fuel stations only heard about the subsidy removal and just stopped selling,” a resident said.
“They could have at least waited for the new president to fully resume work before acting,” another resident noted.
Some other Nigerians expressed displeasure at the development saying it might snowball into serious economic crisis if not checkmated.
“The fuel station owners, in their bid to make greedy profit from the products they bought with subsidy by selling it at a high price. Cheap thinking if you ask me, from those who are already billionaires. This is sad and it can cause inflation across board,” a trader in Osogbo told The Point.