Daily Independent Online.
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Friday, June 11, 2004.
A’ Ibom
marketers defy court order on fuel pricing
By Uduak
Iniodu,
Correspondent, Uyo
Petroleum products marketers in Akwa Ibom State have
defied the court order directing that petroleum products should be sold at the
approved price fixed by the Federal Government.
This is coming on the heels of accusation of
overheating the polity with unpopular economic policy levied against President
Olusegun Obasanjo by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Chief Nelson
Efiong, who also faulted the arbitrary increase in the prices of petroleum
products in the country.
Almost all the filling stations visited in Uyo, the
Akwa Ibom State capital, were selling petrol between N50.00 and N55.00 per
litre, while the cost of kerosene has also gone up to N80.00 per litre.
In Abak, Eket, Oron and Ikot Ekpene, petrol is sold
of between N55.00 and N65.00 while operators of the black market are gearing up
to join in the windfall.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday said,
they were getting set to clamp down on filling stations that flouted the court
order, but a petrol attendant who spoke with Daily Independent under condition of anonymity
faulted the NLC for planning to use force on the petrol dealers.
“They would only create artificial scarcity.
The price of N50.00 per litre of petrol is not a new thing in Akwa Ibom. It has
been on since.
“The problem marketer encounter in the cause of
lifting fuel from either Port Harcourt or Calabar depots is much. Some times,
when you pay, to lift it becomes hard. You have to grease somebody’s palm
before you are given your allocation. So, if you sell at the original price,
you would not break even,” he said.
Many people have, however, expressed concern over the
seriousness of labour in the state to intervene .
