Nigerian Journalist, Nze Ugo-Akpe Onwuka has described the fuel situation in his country as critical and debilitating.
According to him, the challenges with fuel in Nigeria started with the importation of bad fuel which lead to the breakdown of a lot of automobiles “and we degenerated to fuel scarcity.”
He explained that the country has been hit hard by fuel scarcity to the extent that it has become difficult for airlines to operate in Nigeria.
Sharing Nigeria’s plight in an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, Nze Ugo-Akpe Onwuka stated, “The price of diesel has gone up to 4,500 naira and kerosene which is what the common man uses has gone up to over 600 naira and it is just outrageous. It is very dangerous for the economy as it is now. Airlines are going to be grounded in a few hours and that is how bad we have degenerated as a nation and it reflects in many aspects of the economy.”
To him, the hike in fuel prices and its scarcity is just one of the major pointers to where Nigeria as a country is headed. “We are heading to a collapsed economy. The economy is not about to collapse but the economy has already collapsed and that is what is reflected in the oil sector,”
Although the Nigerian government has announced the introduction of various subsidies to reduce the burden of its people, Nze Ugo-Akpe Onwuka believes these have been fruitless. “At the end of the day these monies are burnt and we do not see the effects.”
Fuel scarcity has hit Nigeria so bad that some of its people have parked their cars to join commercial transport with others trekking long distances daily. “That is how bad the situation is my brother,” he submitted.
Fuel scarcity worsened across Nigeria despite repeated assurances from the government that the crisis would soon be over.
Queues persisted in Abuja, Lagos and several other cities as people scrambled to get petrol for their cars and their electricity generators at a time of rising temperatures.
The crisis, which has lingered for weeks — and in some places like Abuja, for several months — continued despite the federal government saying it has sufficient stock of petroleum products for distribution across the country.