Nigerian Fuel Station Owners Groan As Sales Drop

Vanguard reports that several fuel station owners and pump attendants in Kano, have begun to lament.

They are lamenting low patronage as patrons have reduced volume of purchases following pump price increases.

Pump price of petrol was increased from N195 per litre to between N540 and N570 per litre upon the pronouncement of fuel subsidy withdrawal by President Bola Tinubu on May 29.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who monitored filling stations in Kano on Sunday reports that in spite of availability of petrol, motorists and motorcyclists bought low volumes.

Some of the fuel station owners and pump attendants wore gloomy faces as business nosedived.

Mr Sanusi Adam, a dealer said he was experiencing low sales compared to the tempo before the price increase.

Adam explained that most customers now buy between 10 litres and 20 litres of petrol as against the 30 litres and 50 litres they used to buy.

He said his fuel station used to exhaust its stock within four days before the price increase.

“It is now one week and we still have large volume of petrol unsold,’’ he lamented.

Another dealer, Alhaji Muhammadu Aliyu, also lamented that many of his regular customers had reduced their volume of purchases.

“The business is not moving as before. We no longer get patronage like we used to have before the price increase.

“People now minimise their purchases while others have adopted alternative means of transportation like commercial motorcycles and tricycles,’’ he said.

Yet another fuel station owner, Malam Idi Garba, decried the situation where customers bought between N3,000 and N5,000 worth of petrol in spite of their big vehicles.

“The situation is bad. Government should announce palliatives because fuel dealers are feeling the pains and prices of food items have gone up,’’ he lamented.

Malam Sabo Alhassan, a businessman and car owner, said since the price increase, he had been using commercial tricycles as they are cheaper to use.

He said he could not afford the N27,000 needed to fill his car tank.

Alhassan called on government to address the issue in the interest of the public while expressing optimism that things would get better soon.