By Anayo Okoli, Umuahia

FOLLOWING the removal of subsidy on petrol by the Federal Government, a litre is now sold between N150 and N160 in Abia state.

Meanwhile, many indigenes of the state who returned for Christmas and New Year celebrations and were caught up by the sudden rise in price of fuel are now stranded in their villages as they cannot afford the astronomical increase in transport fare on account of the increase in pump price of petrol.

In Umuahia, the capital of the state, a litre of petrol is old at between N150 and N138, and most of the stations, both major and small ones have stocks.

The three NNPC stations in Umuahia metropolis are selling at government regulated price of N138, while major dealers such as Oando, MRS, Total, Conoil and others sell for at N140 per litre. But other private stations that have fuel sell between N150 and N160 per litre.

Stranded passengers

In Aba, the commercial city, while the NNPC and the major marketers maintain the N138 and N140 per litre price, the private stations sell as much as between N170 and N180.

The hike in the pump price of fuel has automatically shot up transport fares, both intra and inters city journeys. Transport fares in the state have gone up by over 100%.

Umuahia to Lagos, which formerly cost N3000 by small bus, now costs between N5000 and N6000 depending on the company while luxury buses which used to take between N1500 and N2000 now attract fares of between N4000 and N5000.

In Umuahia and Aba cities, intra-city transport has also risen by over 100%. Tricylists who before now used to collect between N30 and N40 per drop have increased their fares to between N100 and N150 per drop.

Aba to Owerri, which used to cost between N200 and N300 now costs between N900 and N1000, while Umuahia to Aba which previously cost between N250 and N400 now costs between NN600 and N1000.

Meanwhile, many people who returned for Christmas and New Year celebrations are now stranded as they said they could not afford the new fares having exhausted what they came home with.

Some of them who were seen in some motor parks in Umuahia yesterday lamented the situation, saying that the Federal Government acted wickedly by implementing the policy on January 1, when many people who travelled were still in the villages.

“You know what it means to come to the village to celebrate Christmas and New Year? It is a time of very many activities that involved spending of money. Many people are empty now. Some just kept their transport fare based on what the fares used to be. With these many of us are stranded”, a passenger, who gave his name simply as Kingsley lamented.

However, succour may come their way if Governor Theodore Orji who dispatched some buses to bring interested Abia people home for the celebrations provides some more buses to take them back.