By Tayo Joseph Lagos
There is now a respite for residents of Umuahia, the Abia capital, following the availability of petrol in filling stations.
It is reported that a litre of fuel is now sold for between N160 and N180 as against the previous N230 and N250 in outlets belonging to independent marketers.
At the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mega Station situated at Nkwoegwu on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway as well as its affiliate stations and major marketers’ outlets, petrol is, however, sold for between N143 and N145 per litre respectively.
It was also observed that the pressure and vehicular congestion witnessed at the filling stations last week had eased substantially.
A senior manager at the mega station, who identified himself simply as Sam, said that supply of the commodity had improved tremendously, resulting in the noticeable respite.
Although he declined comments on the daily quantity supplied to the station, he, however, said that the outlet has enough supply of the commodity.
“We have enough product and we start selling before 8 a.m. until we attend to the last person on the queue, sometimes beyond 6 p.m.,” Sam said.
Some motorists, who spoke on the development, expressed delight at the availability of the product and thanked the Federal Government for its intervention.
Mr Godwin Okoro and Evelyn Nwaka, in separate interviews, expressed regrets at the hardship Nigerians went through during the Yuletide.
“We shouldn’t have been in this mess in the first place if the relevant authorities took proactive steps ahead of the Yuletide.
“Be that as it may, one can only say kudos to the Federal Government for bringing the situation under control,” Okoro said.
