The Punch

"We make some money here. We don't have jobs and when fuel scarcity comes, we sell black market and make profit. It may be pains to some people, but are making our gains. For now, we (black marketers) want the fuel scarcity to continue since the government cannot create a system that will ensure sustainable fuel supply to Nigerians. "It is not easy for us too because most times, we sleep at petrol stations whenever there is serious fuel scarcity. I slept in this filling station throughout the night in order to get the fuel I am selling this morning. "I am a student of Ignatius and since funds given to me by my parents cannot be enough, the fuel scarcity always presents itself as an opportunity to go the extra mile to make money. The extra mile is to sleep at filling stations and get the product that we later sell in the day to motorists. In normal situation, 10 litres of petrol should be between N900 and N1,000, but we sell the same quantity today at N1,700. That means N170 per litre. Another black market operator, who identified himself as Gabriel, explained that the number of containers a person could fill at the filling station would determine the amount of profit the person would make. Gabriel also added that the price of petrol changes based on the level of non-availability of the product. He said, "We are very happy over the fuel scarcity. We make quick profit in this business.