The populace in Anambra State were thrown into anger and high level frustration yesterday as commuters and motorists were hit by the sudden hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit commonly called petrol from N530 to N650.
The development was followed by panic buying from motorists and other users in anticipation of further increment in the price of the product.
The Daily Vendor reporter who went round the major town in the state said that anxiety began to mount in the afternoon of Tuesday when oil marketers 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.
Cost of transportation quickly jumped up to reflect the new normal.
Many commuters were shocked by the new turn of events in the middle of the day as some others who got stranded as they were not prepared for the hike in transportation fares.
A number of respondents who spoke with our reporter expressed anger over what they called shocking and unbelievable development.
A staffer of Emeka Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, Amaku who pleaded for anonymity said that the government of the has demonstrated high level of insensitivity to the plights of workers.
She said that the current situation has made it difficult for her and her family to survive as her salary is barely enough to pay her transportation fare on daily basis from Nnewi to Awka.
Another respondent, a driver with an undisclosed Mass Transit said that things are better for transporters whe the pump price of petrol were relatively cheap noting that their turn over that time was higher.
“You may not believe that people are not traveling as they used to do again. This happened because of high transportation fares, this of course has negative effect on how much we make in a day.
“Besides, we can not even charge proportionately to the new price regime of petrol, if we do that, we will not get parsengers again.” He explained.
