Long queues of motorists have suddenly disappeared in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, following the hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, popularly known as fuel.

The price goes between N520 to N550 per litre.

A visit by DAILY POST correspondent to some filling stations along Ikot Ekpene road, Aka road, Oron road, Aka Etinan road, Abak road all in Uyo metropolis showed that most filling stations have fuel but the rush has dropped drastically.

A fuel attendant in one of the filling stations, Ekanma Ekwere noted that sales had actually reduced, adding that the number of motorists who patronised them also reduced since the adjustment to the current pump price.

She said, “We have enough fuel; the problem is that motorists are coming once in a while unlike before when we always had long queues.

“We mostly see minibus drivers, Keke riders and a few private vehicle owners. I learnt that so many people have already parked their vehicles.”

A walk to Wellington Bassey way which is a road leading to the State Judiciary headquarters, ‘A’ division of the Nigerian Police, Uyo Correctional Centre, Government House showed that many civil servants, even the high ranking ones, are scampering for few available commercial buses that ply the route to their offices.

Most of them have parked their private vehicles due to their inability to fuel them.

One of the civil servants, Mr Akpan, who spoke with our correspondent, said it was an act of foolishness for him to be driving his car to the office, noting that it was more expensive.

He said, “It’s not as if I enjoy the stress I’m passing through without driving my vehicle. I bought a fuel of N5000 on Sunday, it was not up to 10 litres. I just drove to church and the market at Itam. It entered the reserve.

“Also last week, within a space of three days, I bought a fuel of N10,000, and it was exhausted. So I decided that this week I will not make such a mistake. How much do I earn in a month to spend N10,000 on fuel every week? Taking a commercial vehicle is more economical, though stressful for me.”

DAILY POST also reports that prices of goods and services have skyrocketed.

The labour unions are asking the Federal Government to revert to the old price of N189 and fix the moribund refineries before allowing the NNPC to fix the fuel price above N500 per litre.

But a lawyer in Akwa Ibom, Olawojuwon Ogunbiyi (Esq) in an interview, said it was no longer necessary to prolong the evil days, adding that people should try to adjust to the current economic realities caused by fuel subsidy removal.

He noted that Labour should have asked for a salary increase which was started by the Buhari administration and not to restore the fuel subsidy, which according to him had put Nigeria into the economic mess it was facing.

He said subsidy had continued to deny the country of profits from its oil sector, noting that NNPC did not remit funds to federal accounts last year as it (NNPC) said that it spent 4.39 trillion naira ($9.7 billion) on petrol subsidy in the year under review.

According to him, “Anybody that loves Nigeria should wish that the subsidy is put to end.

“We’ve been shouting that the subsidy is a scam, that there is no way we would be paying huge amounts of money without fixing the refinery.

“Now we have put an end to subsidies. Let’s find out whether it is a scam or not, how do you get to know something if you don’t put a stop to it?

“NNPC was not remitting any money to CBN over the years because they said they used the money to pay up subsidy and the record they are trying to show us indicates that it is subsidy that is consuming all the money they were making. And the federal government has said they spent a certain huge amount of money on subsidy.

“So let the subsidy stop so that we know where the money is going to. What excuse will NNPC have to give if the subsidy is removed? This means before the end of the year, if we can pay up the deficit on ground, we will be able to have surplus which can be channelled into other stuff.

“If this is a way to endure, we should all look up to that, this is a patriotic act and there is no gain without pain.

“You want the government to keep on subsidising everything for you, that is why we are not productive in Nigeria.

“Labor based their strike threat on fuel subsidy; they should ask for a salary increment. Buhari made an announcement for salary increase before he left office; so labour should ask for implementation not going to strike for subsidy.

“If the people who protested against the removal of subsidy in 2012 did not do so, it would have been a forgotten issue and we won’t be suffering now, a living wage for workers is what we should be asking for now.”

He called on President Tinubu to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

He added that: “Venezuela has more oil than Nigeria but their economy has crashed because of socialism and the communist system.

“You do not wait for the government to provide everything for you, we should make some sacrifices to ensure that things are being done the way they should be.”

[Daily Post]