FIJ
Fuel queues resurfaced on May 29, after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared that “fuel subsidy is gone” in his inaugural address.
In the two days since his declaration, citizens have been thrown into limbo. Fuel stations have shut down, and those that remain open contend with unending queues.
Black market vendors took over fuel distribution at prices almost three times the official N185 pump price.
At around 11 am however, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) fuel stations across Lagos State reviewed their pump prices to N488, making ‘almost three times the price’ the official price.
Transportation prices have already begun to soar. Lucky, a driver plying the Ikeja-Berger road, charged N400 per person for a trip after passengers contested his N500 price.
He said he had bought fuel at N400 a litre in Mowe, which was why he charged N400.
“If they sell at N400, transport fare will be N400; if it is N500, it will be N500; and if it is N1,000, transport fare will be N1,000. Just like that,” Lucky had told me.
This was at least an hour before the pump price review, and in those hours before the prices were reviewed, many Lagosians stayed in fuel station queues for hours waiting to buy fuel at N185. They waited, despite the gates being locked, for whenever the fuel stations would start selling.
