By Adadainfo
Filling stations did not open at the university community of Nsukka, Enugu State, on Friday following a planned protest by residents over scarcity of cash and high cost of petroleum motor spirit.
A survey carried out by our correspodent shows that motorists were buying a litre of PMS at N1,000 from black marketers.
The protesters were said to be angry because of the high cost of goods and services in the university community.
“This is becoming too much,” a protester said, “We want a litre sold at the normal price in Nsukka. We told filling stations to comply, but they refused. That is why many of them shut down.
“We are not happy. From the day that prices of petrol products began to rise, Nsukka always took the lead in increasing the prices. And they will never reduce it. It is exploitation.”
A fuel attendant at one of the filling stations, Ogechi, said, “We don’t determine the price. It is our managers that tell us the amount to sell. But I know that we also buy from other marketers at high costs. The cause is not from us.”
Johnson, a manager at one of the filling stations, said, “We didn’t open because some elements might attack us. They threatened to enforce the price at less than N200 a litre yesterday. We avoided the consequences by shutting down.”
Meanwhile, banks at Nsukka were Friday dispensing a maximum of N2, 000 across the counter to customers. Our correspodent was told that there was limited supply of new naira notes to the banks.
A customer said, “I paid an Okada man N300 to get to this bank. And I was paid N2, 000. Unfortunate.”
