Government and business activities have seriously been crippled as a result of fuel scarcity that has persisted in the state as the pump price has unimaginably skyrocketed.
An investigation by Blueprint has shown that the scarcity has forced many car owners to abandon their vehicles and resort to joining Okada or trekking long distances.
A visit to the Birnin Kebbi Central Motor Park area revealed that passengers traveling to Zauro, Gwadangaji and other satellite villages no longer wait to pay fares as they are forced to trek home.
Worst hit is the Birnin Kebbi metropolis where virtually all the filling stations have been shut down. A gallon of five litres now sells for N1, 900 and above while a jerry can of 25 litres is sold at N9, 000.
The investigation further showed that civil servants now go to work late as a result of the scarcity while business activities such as bakery, sachet water and commercial motorcycle operations are finding it difficult to survive as a result of the grueling fuel shortage in town.
A cross section of motorcycle operators who spoke to our correspondent, lamented that the situation has forced them to close down business.
One of them, Mustafa Hadi said, “Frankly speaking we are doing the business at a loss; we are buying a litre at N350 and drop passengers at N50 to N70. When you calculate this, there is no gain at all.”
Efforts to secure further comments from the officials of the state Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) who are largely the owners of the petrol filling stations in the state, proved abortive as they were said to been holding series of meetings at the time of filling this report.