Ilorin residents groan as situation bites harder

iyebiye olawuyi

January 8, 2018 4:05 PM

Anthony Ibe, a student of the University of Ilorin, said that he had been on the queue for more than an hour without any hope of leaving soon.

Fuel scarcity has apparently not abated in Kwara, as parents and students among other residents, on Monday, expressed dissatisfaction with the lingering problem.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that at the various motor parks including roadsides in Ilorin, passengers in their scores, were waiting to board the few available commercial vehicles.

Some of the passengers and drivers, who spoke with NAN, said the fuel scarcity was becoming unbearable, as motorists continued to queue for petrol endlessly at filling stations.

“My lectures start by 8 a.m., and this is after 10 a.m. and I am still waiting to get a cab to school.

“The situation is getting out of hands; what is the essence of going to school when we are already missing lectures.

“There have been a lot of push and fights here today, because everyone just wants to get into any available cab,’’ he said.

Mrs Ireti Ademola, a parent with two school children bemoaned the situation, saying: “how do I cope with these children everyday without the ease of transportation?

“I cannot carry both of them and at the same time struggle to get a cab, hence our little children are not left out in this suffering; they are already late.

“I just hope this scarcity will come to an end soon or government should just postpone resumption of schools,’’ she said.

A student of Kwara State Polytechnic, Ismail Abdulkadir, said, “this is not encouraging at all, imagine going to school late because you cannot get a cab.

“We, the students, are always at the receiving end, we have to trek long distances as well as pay higher transportation fare.

“Please, how much is our pocket money that I have to pay more than N200 to and from school and very soon, the price of sachet water may increase.

“This is just too much suffering to bear, the government should consider the plight of students and intervene in the lingering problem,’’ he said.

At the College of Education in Ilorin, students also lamented the hike in transportation fare and dearth of commercial vehicles.

A transporter, who simply identified himself as Sheu, blamed the increase in transport fare on the troubles motorists encountered before getting fuel.

He said that most of the time, they had to sleep over at petrol stations in order to be able to get fuel early.

“Sometimes, we slept over at petrol stations or even went out of the town to get fuel, because most of the filling stations here claimed they didn’t have fuel.

“And we bought fuel at N200 per litre, black marketers sold five litres for N1,500, so you can imagine what we are passing through.

“This is why transport fare has increased, remember that we also have to make profit,’’ he said.

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