Some commercial drivers and motorcyclists have lamented the high cost of purchasing petrol in Osun and Ekiti State.

FIJ learned that on Sunday morning, several filling stations within the two states were packed full with residents seeking to purchase the product.

A commercial driver in Owode-Ede, Osun State, told FIJ that the increase in cost was peculiar to private fuel stations. He stated that scarcity began on Saturday morning after rumours of a decrease in pump price went viral.

“There is a sudden hike in the cost of transportation because of fuel scarcity. In private stations, fuel is now sold for N800,” he told FIJ.

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“There is a sudden hike in the cost of transportation because of fuel scarcity. In private stations, fuel is now sold for N800,” he told FIJ.

“Everything happened between this morning and yesterday after rumours that the government was planning to reduce the pump price. The people who sell fuel refused to deliver new stock.

“But some other groups of people are claiming that the fuel is not available at all, hence the scarcity.

“The fuel in my bus, I had to queue over the night to get it, and once its exhausted, I’ll go back home to rest until it is available.”

The commercial driver said that most of the private filling stations were selling between N750 and N800 while the government-owned stations had a price of N580.

He said this had caused the queue in the government-owned stations to be longer.

A resident of Ekiti told FIJ that a filling station in her area, Awedele, Ado-Ekiti, was filled to the brim as residents sought fuel.

“I came out on Sunday morning to see that fuel was scare. There was no bike or bus. People were trekking everywhere,” she said.

“One of the bike men told me he had to go all the way from Ekiti to Akure to get fuel. I also saw someone who had been in a queue since 6 am. All these have doubled the cost of transportation within the state.”

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FIJ sighted fuel queues at NNPC, Eterna and NIPCO filling stations around Abere, Africa and Ogo-Oluwa areas of Osogbo, while fuel stations like Alfjar, MRS and Mobil were out of stock.

Another resident of Osun said the scarcity caused a sudden increase in the cost of transportation as commercial drivers instantly hiked their fares.

She said commercial drivers were now subsidising the high cost of fuel by carrying more passengers than usual.

“When I traveled from Lagos to Osogbo yesterday, the fare was N5,100 per seat, and we had three passengers on each row.

“It was shocking for me to discover today while returning to Lagos that commercial drivers now had four people on a row for almost the same price.

“When I asked them, they said the pump price of fuel was now N800 and they couldn’t lose both ways.”

FIJ understands that residents and commercial drivers are yet to fully grasp the cause of the scarcity, even though they are currently paying more for the product and transportation.