Commuters and motorists were on Thursday, lamenting over the sudden hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) commonly known as petrol or fuel from N700 to N730 in Anambra.
The product is unanimously sold at the same rate across the state.
Our correspondent gathered that the petrol stations in the major cities of Onitsha, Nnewi, and Awka currently selling the product at N730 per litre beginning from Wednesday afternoon
A driver at one of the petrol stations in Awka, who does not want to be mentioned in the print, said the news of the current increase in pump price filtered into town immediately after IPMAN held its meeting in the state capital, on Wednesday afternoon.
The fears began earlier on in the afternoon when independent oil marketers operating in the state suddenly shut their filling stations and refused to sell for some hours when the news of the increment had filtered in.
The marketers were said to have resumed operations later in the evening after their emergency meeting in Awka and quickly adjusted their pump prices to reflect the new price regime.
As a result of the development, transportation fares suddenly soared above 20-30 per cent as commuters paid N350 for a journey that they paid N200 in the morning.
Commuters who were taken by surprise became stranded as those who could not afford the new price template were seen trekking to their various places of work in anger.
However, NNPCL facilities located along the Awka-Enugu Road and other marketers were seen selling the product between N620 to N650 per liter while it was N730 at some filling stations in Nnewi and Onitsha respectively.
A manager at a petrol station in Nnewi (name withheld) said, “We received a call from a sister petrol station informing us to suspend operations temporarily and be ready to adjust our meter to reflect the new price that the pump price has been increased by the NNPCL, immediately we adjust our price to N730, he stated.
Reacting to the development, a civil servant with the Anambra State Government, Mr. Uloka James, called on governor, Chukwuma Soludo to urgently intervene to save them from dying.
According to him, I have nothing much to say, the only thing is for the governor to urgently intervene because the situation will add more pain to the already existing hardship in the land.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the situation is currently hitting hard across the southeast states, compromises, Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, and Ebonyi.
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