Following the announcement of fuel subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu in his inaugural speech on Monday, fuel queues have returned to filling stations in Ilorin metropolis.
A correspondent of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who went round the town on Monday evening, reports that most filling stations were closed while those selling were selling above approved pump price with long queue of customers.
Earlier in the morning before the news of the removal went round, the filling stations were selling at their different rates, but some closed down while others have increased their prices by evening.
Some of the customers who spoke to NAN however said they envisaged scarcity of fuel, hence the panic buying.
Mrs Medinah Jimoh said she would not have the time to go round in search of fuel at an expensive rate when work resume on Tuesday, so she was ready to join the long queue and buy.
Another customer, Mr David Owoeye, said the filling stations were out to exploit the customers as they will start selling old stock at a new price that has not even been announced yet.
”That is the reason why I decided to refil my tank today, so that I will not suffer searching for fuel around when the filling stations start their artificial scarcity,” he said.