BY EDMOND ODOK – Just hours after President Bola Tinubu declared on Monday that the era of fuel subsidy is gone in Nigeria, queues have suddenly appeared in some petrol stations in Lagos and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Making the declaration in his inaugural speech as the 16th President of Nigeria, he said; “We commend the decision of the outgoing administration in phasing out the petrol subsidy regime which has increasingly favoured the rich more than the poor.
“Subsidy can no longer justify its ever-increasing costs in the wake of drying resources. We shall instead re-channel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, healthcare, and jobs that will materially improve the lives of millions.”
However, the announcement seems to have triggered panic buying from customers as some petrol stations in Lagos such as NNPC stations in Ikeja, Alausa were seen crowded by motorists who rushed to buy the product, even as many private stations were not dispensing the products as of the time of filing this report.
Motorists in the queues confessed to our correspondents that the Presidential announcement may have led some of the fuel marketers to start hoarding the products in anticipation of when the new ‘no subsidy regime’ would commence officially.
In Abuja, the Nation’s capital city, some residents, who spoke to Forefront News on the development, said going by President Tinubu’s submission that subsidy was only benefitting the rich at the expense of the poor, they are all hoping the new administration would walk the talk of re-channeling funds into better investment for the country and Nigerians in general
Pointedly, many of them said the Tinubu government should make job creation, education, healthcare, and provision of public infrastructure a top priority in order to address the hardship Nigerians suffered during the eight years of the Buhari administration.
