Long fuel queues have resurfaced in Ibadan, as residents engaged in panic buying of the commodity.
This comes as an after-effect of the removal of subsidy announced by President Bola Tinubu during his inauguration on Monday.
Some of the residents, on Tuesday, said they wanted to stock up before the official implementation of the subsidy removal.
Dr Dele Awodola, a car owner, who was in the queue in one of the filling stations in the Ibadan metropolis, said that since nobody could predict how things would go. Hence, he had to struggle to fill his car with fuel.
“We heard the announcement about subsidy removal and we knew that things might be tough at first. So before the commodity is sold for a higher price, I decided to buy enough fuel for now,” Awodola said.
Mr Anu Olayinka, an entrepreneur, said it was difficult getting his children to school due to traffic caused by queues at filling stations.
“We had to take shortcuts to where we were going and even at that, major routes were congested and movement stalled for hours. It was so annoying,” he lamented.
Mr Moses Ariwoola, a commercial driver, said most of his colleagues were in queues at filling stations where they would get the commodity at the official price before it eventually goes up.
“All we ask for is respite whenever fuel subsidy is removed. We do not want more hardship than what we are currently experiencing,” he said.
It is reported that while most of the filling stations within the metropolis shut their doors, the few ones that were selling the commodity witnessed long queues, with some of them selling for between N300 and N350 per litre.
NAN
