Black marketers push petrol price to N300/litre in Ondo

AS the scarcity of petrol bites harder across Ondo state , major marketers of the commodity now divert their consignment to independent marketers who sell between N150 and N300 per litre.

Investigations conducted by Vanguard in the state indicated that the major marketers preferred to sell their consignment to independent marketers who then sell above the pump price.

To avoid suspicion because the state petroleum products monitoring committee announces daily basis the allocation to each dealer, the major marketers divide their consignment into two by selling more than half to independent marketers.

It was gathered that the independent marketers also have some hoodlums who buy in jerry cans and hang around on the major roads to sell at exorbitant prices.

We learnt that in order to prevent members of the public from  knowing their shady deal, trucks conveying the consignment move to the stations owned by independent marketer around 2am to dump the commodity into their under ground tanks.

The major marketers sells for less than two hours and thereafter announced that they have exhausted their consignment.

Almost all the independent marketers across the state are dispensing the commodity for between N200 and N300 per litre while few malor marketers sold at N150 per litre.

At the NNPC Mega Station on Akure-Owo expressway the commodity is sold at the normal price but the queue is endless.

Black market business has been booming in the last one week as motor park touts now move about with Jerry cans to make brisk business.

Transport fares have gone up by 100 percent for inter and intra -city services.

Meanwhile, the Ondo State government yesterday said it would continue to do the needful in curtailing the activities of oil marketers who are using the fuel scarcity to extort the people with unrealistic pump prices.

Chairman of the state Petroleum products monitoring committee, Alhaji Jimoh Bello gave the assurance while announcing the arrival of 165,000 litres of petrol to mitigate the hardship faced by the people.