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TARABA: Fuel Is Exclusively For Government Officials And Big Men

By Charles Akpeji, Jalingo
15 May 2015   |   11:33 pm
The current acute shortage of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) other wise known as fuel has brought an untold hardship on residents of Taraba State compelling many to resign to fate and some to the graveyard. Though it is no longer news that the people are becoming use to the system, what is more disturbing…

The current acute shortage of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) other wise known as fuel has brought an untold hardship on residents of Taraba State compelling many to resign to fate and some to the graveyard.

Though it is no longer news that the people are becoming use to the system, what is more disturbing to the people is the inability of the government to make life more meaningful to the citizens despite the availability of the petroleum resources and other natural resources.

Unlike other parts of the country, where commercial activities are still booming in spite of the perennial scarcity, reverse is no doubt the case in Taraba (Nature’s Gift to the Nation) as observed by The Guardian

Business activities have not only been paralyzed, many residents in the state are weighing the option of relocation, as small scale business owners are gradually bowing out of the state to seek for greener pastures elsewhere.

While some states are working assiduously to cushion the negative effects of the scarcity on their residents, the lukewarm attitude of those steering the ship in Taraba seems worse as most civil servants now wear long faces due to their unpaid salaries.

The Guardian investigation shows that relatively available product in filling stations across the state often go to the highest bidder.

Narrating his experience, a commercial bus driver in the state capital, Umar Gidado said he was on queue for days, waiting patiently for the day fuel would arrive the NNPC mega station, but to his surprise, when the tankers arrived with fuel, people who came few minutes later were the ones attended to.

Helpless, Gidado said he resigned to fate, as there was no other option, saying, “I had to go back home and wait, pending when the federal government would address the problem.”

Rather than making the product available to the public, The Guardian reliably gathered that larger percentage of the fuel often brought into the state don’t get to the right channels as they are often allocated to government ministries and agencies.

Saddened by the development, some residents, especially the motorists and commuters, told The Guardian that non-availability of fuel in the state has made them packed their vehicles, and postponed their trips pending when the scarcity is abated.

While the situation continues to bite hard the black marketers daily smile to banks. One of the black marketers, who confided in this reporter, said, “it is now our time to benefit from the national cake.”

According to Chief Okwudili, a small-scale business entrepreneur in the state, the outgoing government has done nothing positive to address the perennial scarcity, stressing that all the ordinary man in the streets needs from every good government is portable water, good roads, electricity, fuel, hospital, schools and security.

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