Uyai-Abasi Etido
Long queues have returned to Ekiti filling stations as many motorists scrambled to get petroleum products hours after President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of fuel subsidy.
NEWSTODAYNG recalled that President Tinubu on Monday in his inaugural address at Eagle Square, Abuja, declared that there would no longer be a petroleum subsidy regime as it was not provided for, in the budget.
Some hours after the declaration, fuel queues resurfaced in many filling station in Ekiti State and some states amid uncertainty over the effect of the new policy.
The filling stations were seen dispensing petrol at N230 while many remained shut.
At the Furasat filling station Okebareke, in Ido Ekiti, Tunde Ajayi, a motorist at the station, attributed the fuel queue to subsidy removal.
“This is surprising, people have started to panic, just with the announcement of subsidy removal.
“We used to buy it for N230 per litre before and now it is still the same price but people already believe that with the president’s announcement, fuel price might go up.
“I’m here to buy and store so I can manage it before the filling station starts increasing their litre price.” Mr Kayode said
Kenneth Onyebuchi, a civil servant said: “I’m not sure this is because of the subsidy removal announcement, I think this is because of the long holiday. You know Tuesday is work so I just think people are just coming out to fill their cars.
“If it’s because of what the president said we will know within the week,” he said.
A car owner, John-wisdom Nwali, said “As I was driving towards my house, I observed a queue in the filling stations and I decided to stop and refill my tank. Another round of fuel scarcity should not be encouraged in this regime because we have suffered a lot in Buhari’s tenure because of scarcity.
“I heard that this recent queue is caused by the government announcement of removing fuel subsidies but I don’t know how true it is,” he said.
