•FUNAAB students on Monday
The Nigeria Union of Journalists NUJ, Ogun State Council has expressed grave concern over the sudden fuel scarcity of fuel in many cities and towns in the state and the attendant sharp rise in pump price of the product as well as transport fares.
The state Council of NUJ said it was particularly disturbed that the sudden fuel scarcity crippled social – economic activities in the state on Monday and made the Third Term school resumption a thing of nightmare for parents and pupils.
The Daily Crucible reports that hundreds of students and staffers of the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB) were stranded at the Camp/Alabata junction, unable to resume early for work or attend morning classes as the fuel scarcity hit harder in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Many of the campus shuttles and taxis plying the FUNAAB road to convey off – campus students and workers to and fro the institution were off the road for the better part of Monday with the operators either withdrawing their vehicles or remained holed up for hours at filling stations struggling amid demoralising long queues to buy fuel.
Some of the filling stations operated by Independent Marketers were selling between N750 and N800 where the product where there was an availability of the product, but even at that, long queues were a common place.
•Some of the FUNAAB students yesterday at Camp.
A female student of FUNAAB who identified herself as Abidemi Adeyinka said she and her colleagues missed their morning classes as there was no taxi or shuttle bus to convey them from camp to the university campus.
Some of the tired and frustrated students were sighted labouring to board a mini – truck for carrying farm produce in order to escape the long wait at the bus stop and as sun rays became scorching at noon time.
Miss Adeyinka said further that she did not only spend hours waiting for vehicles that weren’t forthcoming, but had to also pay triple of what days earlier, was her regular fare to the university as motorists jacked up their fares to reflect the current sudden fuel scarcity and subsequent adjustment of the pump prices at filing stations.
•FUNAAB students yesterday inside the campus.
Ogun State Council of NUJ apparently reacting to the precarious development in a statement by signed by the Chairman, Comrade Wale Olanrewaju and the Secretary, Comrade Bunmi Adigun to echo the voice of Ogun residents and Nigerians, said “Nigerians don’t deserve this untold hardship.”
They lamented that a minimum taxi drop jumped from N200 to as high as N500, while a litre of petrol within Abeokuta metropolis increased to an astronomical N1,000 in price.
The statement reads, “The Nigeria Union of Journalist y NUJ, Ogun State Council is seriously concerned about the sudden fuel scarcity which has crippled socio-economic life making it unbearable for people to live a life without stress and has therefore called on relevant authorities to urgently halt this ugly development in view of its ripple effects on not only business activities but the untold hardship on Nigerians.
This, according to reports, has precipitated astronomical surge in transport fare as Nigerians are still grappling with the multiplier consequences of the removal of fuel subsidy, which is yet to subside.
Additionally, resumption of schools for the third term in the state has left many parents to experience another batch of agony as a result of the unabated fuel scarcity which is caused by logistics hurdles in transporting the product to different locations in the country.
The union, however, called for quick fix solution to bail Nigerians out of the current quagmire in no distance time.
In a statement signed by the Chairman, Comrade Wale Olanrewaju and the Secretary, Comrade Bunmi Adigun echoed the voice of the people of Ogun State and Nigerians as the untold hardship bites harder as Ogun State case is peculiar and looks threatening with the 2023/2024 academic session for public and private primary and secondary schools just taking off with harrowing experience of trekking from home to their different schools no matter the distance.
A minimum taxi drop jumped from N200 to as high as N500, while a liter of petrol within Abeokuta metropolis is on the increase as a liter now goes for N1,000.
The time of rescue for the government at all levels is now and the need to put a smile again on the faces of everyone who are really looking up for succor”