Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadir Obafemi Hamzat, on Friday urged residents to stop patronizing black marketers, saying with the fuel price hike dictated by removal subsidy, enough of the products were available at filling stations and market forces would determine the prices sooner.
The deputy governor gave this advice after paying a surprise visit to some of the filling stations in Lagos metropolis to monitor the activities of filling stations where he met with the station manager.
Hamzat was at the NNPC Filling Station situated at KFC premises on Alfred Rewani in Ikoyi at about 9:540am, where the station manager, Ganiyu Abiola, told him that everything was going on smoothly and that the station had enough fuel at its depot, saying that a litre of petrol was being sold at N488.
Hamzat from there proceed to the NNPC Filling Station, Ikoyi and later headed to Total Energies at Sura area of the state where the station managers also confirmed that there was enough supply of fuel products, with their pump price for petrol indicating N488 per litre.
According to the deputy governor, people should desist from panick buying, saying since fuel subsidy had gone, there was enough supply available for residents at stations located in the state.
Addressing newsmen at one of the filling stations in Ikoyi, Hamzat explained that moving round to monitor what was happening at filling stations was to make sure that there was no scarcity, saying that people needed not to engage in panic buying even though prices of the products had gone up as, according to him, there were enough supplies to go round.
The deputy governor, while noting that Lagos harbour a lot of vehicular activities, urged the residents not to patronize black marketers, pointing out that the bottomline was that the fuel subsidy regime was no longer there again as because subsidizing fuel for the rich was not sustainable.
“The regime of fuel subsidy was announced to have ended. Lagos is always the epicenter of everything. Forty percent of cabs are in Lagos, whatever that affects PMS, affects Lagos, so the essence is to go around and assess situation.
“For us, it is to make sure that there is no scarcity. People don’t need to rush. Prices have gone up but in terms of volume, there is enough volume. So there is no question of scarcity,” he said.
“I think that is to be clear to all of us. So in the next two to three months, the prices will crash because the market forces will determine the prices.
“Various commentators and IMF have told us we are spending Trillions subsidizing substantially rich people because we are spending 13 percent on the less privileged, 87 percent on people who can afford it. It doesn’t make sense. So if we are able to plough that money back, then it makes it easier to invest in education, health and others. So the president will be able to harness it and be able to use it for various projects.
“I understand that the transportation fares have gone higher but the only thing is that it will get a little tougher before it gets better.
“Remember, the prices in Lagos will be different from that in Ibadan. And even in Lagos, because of efficiency, prices will differ but you are not subsidizing anybody’s inefficiency. It is a question of time, in just two or three months, things will stabilize so if the international prices crash, it will also crash. Competition will always make it crash, market forces will determine the prices,” he noted.
“Don’t patronize black marketers. The bottomline is very simple because there is no regime of fuel subsidy again. People don’t have the incentive to hoard anymore.
He stressed that there are “48,000km of boarders in Nigeria, even if you deploy the military, the navy, people will steal because we are talking of market, we are subsidizing fuel for other countries.
“I think that is to be clear to all of us. So in the next two to three months, the volume will crash and the market will determine the prices.
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