Kaduna – Petroleum products hawkers and dealers are now making brisk business in Kaduna State, following the unending scarcity of the commodities nationwide.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that scores of such hawkers have taken over the streets in Kaduna, dispensing the commodity at exorbitant prices.
Most petrol filling stations in the town have closed down while the few dispensing the products are selling at between N130 and N200 per litre.
Motorists said they now relied on the roadside fuel hawkers for the product which could be sold for as high as N200 per litre.
Usman Haruna, a fuel vendor at NEPA Roundabout, said he sold three barrels of petrol daily since the fuel scarcity began.
He said that the fuel was secured from some marketers, who prefered to distribute it to the roadside vendors, instead of dispensing at filling stations.
“We do get our fuel from marketers for about N120 to N130 and we sell to buyers at the cost of N175 a litre or more,” Haruna said.
Another vendor at Leventis area, Habibu Kabir, said the market was booming even though “it is illegal”.
“We really enjoy the market because there is a lot of gain within the period of the scarcity; I make up to N10,000 daily.
“We know the way we operate is illegal but we take the risk.
“If the government will address this issue of scarcity, it will be good because everybody is suffering from the situation.”
A spokesman for the state branch of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Sani Yashau, said the organisation was not aware that any of its members was encouraging the roadside vendors.
“We are going to investigate the matter and any independent marketer found involved in this act will be sanctioned,” he said.
He attributed the scarcity, particularly in Kaduna, to low supply from Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company.
“Once the fuel is available, we will sell it and continue our business; we too don’t want the hardship ordinary Nigerians are going through.”
A motorist, Mr Emmanuel Peter, said that most filling stations in the state capital were empty.
“So one has no any other alternative than to buy from the black marketers, no matter how much the price is,” he said.
Peter called on the government to help Nigerians to reduce the current hardship. (NAN)