SMALL business owners have urged the Federal Government to provide palliatives to serve as succour for losses recorded from recent blackouts, fuel crises and high cost of diesel.
They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja that many of them had to shut down their businesses as a result of the situation.
Though the fuel situation has improved a bit, Nigerians faced fuel crisis which led to blackouts in most parts of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that affected businesses.
The fuelling stations across the country either closed or operated intermittent schedules that left very long queues permanently at their gates.
Mrs Mary Ubawike, a provision retail store owner, said that she was forced to buy fuel at a higher price from “black market” to run her business.
“This left a huge hole in my pocket as it affected my capital for my business.
“The fuel situation may have improved but the electricity supply has remained erratic. “
Previously, I buy ice block to freeze my drinks for N200 but now they sell it to me at N500 and sometimes N800. “
It is unfortunate that the extended collapse of the power grid over the last several weeks combined with a global hike in diesel prices is affecting us badly.
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“We need to see obvious interventions from the government, some businesses have shut down while others recorded huge losses as they couldn’t cope with the situation,” Ubawike said.
She called on all relevant authorities to intervene by providing financial palliatives that would cushion the effect of hardship on citizens, especially businesses in the informal sector.
Mr Desmond Ukasike, a diesel retailer said, “I used to buy one drum of diesel N60, 000 last in 2021, but it jumped to N150 000 in March.
“The situation was even better in February where a litre was sold between N300 and N350 but now it is N750 per litre.
“This price is scaring away our customers and most times if you tell them the new price they argue with you endlessly,” Ukasike said.
Similarly, Mrs Ayo Adetunde, a water retailer, said that the high cost of diesel frustrated her business in no small measure.
Adetunde said that the situation forced her to suspend selling water in her neighbourhood because she could not continue to operate at a loss.
According to her, buying five litres of diesel is currently about N3, 500 from N1, 200 I bought in February and if I use it to pump water to sell, I don’t make any profit.
“How can I make profit in a situation where 20 litres of water is sold N20, how do I cope with this including maintaining the generator,” Adetunde said.
One of her customers, Joshua Nandom, recounted the difficulty he experienced and urged the Federal Government to intervene.
“The ripple effect is on ordinary Nigerians.
“To buy water, I pay more and sometimes the water would become scarce due to erratic power supply, difficulty in buying fuel and the high cost of diesel to power generators.
“Similarly, I used to cut my hair for N250 but now it has jacked up to N300,” Nandom said.
Meanwhile, figures by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that retail price of automotive gas oil (Diesel) paid by consumers increased from N288.09 in January to N311.98 per litre in February.
(NAN)
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