Smiling to the bank What is good for the goose may not be good for the gander, unlike the old saying. While most Nigerians continue to bemoan the persistent fuel scarcity, some, in their craftiness, have capitalized on the situation to make brisk business. No doubt, for this category of Nigerians, the fuel crisis has become a blessing in disguise. The black marketer is not complaining.
Smiling to the bank What is good for the goose may not be good for the gander, unlike the old saying. While most Nigerians continue to bemoan the persistent fuel scarcity, some, in their craftiness, have capitalized on the situation to make brisk business. No doubt, for this category of Nigerians, the fuel crisis has become a blessing in disguise. The black marketer is not complaining. Since the commencement of the fuel scarcity, virtually all street corners have been converted into a micro fuel depot by black market operators as all sizes of jerrycans now litter everywhere. One of the operators of this illicit business in Owode area of Lagos who gave his name as Bayo, said that has put some money into his pocket. A housewife, Mrs. Pelume said since her husband earns some money selling black market fuel. A teenager, Ishola who sells fuel in five, 10 and 25-litre jerrycans along the Ikorodu Road at Palm Groove Bus stop, told the Saturday Vanguard that he has generated enough money to pay his school fees as well as meet up with other sundry expenses. In other major Nigerian cities like Port Harcourt, Abuja, Kaduna, Enugu, Ilorin, Owerri among others, black market operators execute their business with impunity as even the security personnel who should put them to check patronize them. Building family ties A trader, Mrs. Adaeze Nwankwo said that the fuel crisis has helped to build her home again as her husband who used to keep late night no longer does so. “The fuel scarcity has crippled my husband. Apart from his job, he hardly goes anywhere because the tanks of his two cars are empty. “Until now, my husband would come home every day by 11pm and leave at 5.30am the next morning. On weekends, he hardly stayed home. It was either he’s watching football at a popular TV viewing centre in the neighbourhood or he’s gone out with some friends. But today, the story is completely different as I’m beginning to appreciate my husband all over again as though we got married just yesterday,” she said. In the same vein, two school children, Anthony and Chidinma said that their parents no longer keep late nights mainly because of the fear that they might be stranded at the bus stop as only few commercial vehicles ply the road at late hours. Similarly, Daniel Borisade who resides in Surulere, Lagos, said that since the fuel crisis, he and his family members have not, for sometime now experienced the noisy night as their neighbour who runs his generator all through the night could not buy fuel to power his generator. Madness everywhere A panoramic view showed that from the dry land of the North to the arable land of the South-East down to the oil-rich Niger Delta Region through the commercial cities in the West, the fuel madness is everywhere.
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