Residents of Zamfara State have lamented the resultant effects of the hike in fuel price, saying that the situation has seriously affected the cost of living in the state.
According to some residents interviewed by DAILY POST in Gusau, the state capital, fuel scarcity has led to an increase in the cost of transportation and foodstuffs.
One of the residents, Alhaji Usman Abubakar, said he deals in planks and wood and cannot work without fuel because of the heavy machines being used for his job.
He explained that the increase in prices of petroleum products has forced many business people to increase the prices of their products.
“One cannot buy fuel at a higher price and come back to retain their prices, prices of items must be increased also because fuel is the engine room of every economic sector. Even now we are still operating on huge loss,” he said.
Another businessman, Mr Ejike Okafor, noted that with the unnecessary increase in the prices of petroleum products, almost all the economic sectors have been seriously affected.
He said that the Federal Government is not doing anything about the ugly situation, pointing out that many transporters have parked their vehicles and motorbikes as they could not even get fuel to buy.
He blamed the Federal Government for the unfortunate trend, stressing that there are many petroleum regulatory bodies in the state but they are not doing the work they are expected to do.
“Let the Federal Government set up a panel to investigate these petroleum regulatory bodies because they can not be in the State while the residents are suffering untold hardship,” he said.
When DAILY POST visited some major petrol stations in Gusau, it was gathered that most of them had fuel but did not care about selling to customers.
It was learnt that the petroleum products were sold to black marketers at high costs, who resell at exorbitant prices, forcing many business people to suspend their activities.
Recall that the state government, through its task force committee on security had banned the sale of fuel in most local government areas of the state due to banditry activities bedevilling the entire state.
The chairman of the taskforce, Hon. Abubakar Mohammed Dauran, recently issued a strong warning to security operatives who move from one petrol station to the other demanding gratification from the petrol stations in the name of the taskforce committee on security.
Dauran pleaded with the residents of the state to be calm, promising to work together with petroleum regulatory bodies in the state to find a lasting solution to the constant scarcity of fuel in the state.
He revealed that the independent oil marketers were responsible for the hike in fuel prices, saying that they were hoarding the products to maximize their profit, noting that the Federal Government has not in any way increased the prices of petroleum products.
