Petrol Goes For N250 Per Litre In Owerri

Activities were slowed down in Owerri on Monday as filling station owners closed shop in protest against a new tax imposed on them.

While motorists and tricycle riders lamented the scarcity, black market dealers made brisk business from the situation with a litre of petrol going for N250.

Residents told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the scarcity had caused a sharp rise in the fare charged by transporters.

Mrs Rose Nwana, a civil servant, said getting to work cost her an extra N200 as a result of the scarcity.

She said a trip to distances which cost N50 previously now costs as much as N100 as the transporters had to recover the high cost of fuel in the black market.

Mr Boniface Nworie, a commercial tricycle rider, said the cost may increase further because black marketers would run out of fuel, causing an even worse scarcity.

Efforts to interview owners of fuel stations in Owerri proved abortive as most of them stayed away while their managers declined comment.