Following the increase in pump price and scarcity of fuel, some motorists in Kano State on Wednesday parked their cars at home to board commercial tricycles to work and business places.
A check by LEADERSHIP on Wednesday in some parts of Kano metropolitan revealed that most of the major filling stations, such as the NNPC, A.A Rano, Total and Aliko were not dispensing fuel and the much busy roads witnessed less vehicular movement.
A resident of Jaba in Unity Estate who identify himself as Paul, told LEADERSHIP that he has parked his car and decided to follow a commercial tricycle to work following the stress in buying fuel.
Paul added that before the recent increase, he used to spend an average of N20,000 weekly to fuel his car, an expense he said he cannot continue.
According to him, “Even yesterday (Tuesday) that the PMS price rose to about N950 in some filling stations, there was still queues. I can’t go and waste my time queuing and going late to work and overburdening myself.
“Besides, with N1,000, I can join keke to and fro to work, after all, I have school fees of four children to pay as school is resuming,” he said.
While expressing worry over the non-availability of the product despite the hike in price, Mr. Paul however called on the government to look into the plight of the common man who struggles to feed their family as a result of the economic hardship, noting that, the increase in pump price will further worsen inflation and make food more expensive.
Another resident of Gama, Tukur Abdullahi told our correspondent that he bought a litre of fuel at a ‘black market’ filling station in his locality at the rate of N1,112 to fuel his motorcycle to work.
Abdullahi said he parked his car due to the high cost of fuel to reduce expenses, noting that his kind of job makes him move around, as such moving on his motorcycle makes it easier to cope with the rising cost of fuel.
Similarly, Bilkisu Nasidi a resident at Zoo Road, while lamenting the situation noted, that she has resulted to using tricycle and in some instances, trek a distance, using the opportunity to do some exercise.
She posited that, when school resumes, she will have no other option than to use her car to work and convey the children to school, stressing that it is always difficult to get tricycle in the morning.
Nasidi however called on the federal government to step in so as not to make life more unbearable for the people.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, after the NNPCL reviewed upward the price of PMS from N617 to N897, most filling station started dispensing fuel between N904 to N950, but as at Wednesday, most of them stopped dispensing fuel leaving residents and motorists to patronising black marketers who sells a litre within the range of N1020 to N1500.
