Taiwo Akande (not real name) is a famous commercial driver in Ilorin, Kwara State capital. In the last four months, the business has been ebbed. It is not because he is unwilling to work but due to unforeseen circumstance precipitated by acute shortage of fuel otherwise known as premium motor spirit.

As a man with zeal and passion to work he is handicapped. The fuel situation has rendered him incapacitated. From post-Office to Challenge and to Tanke, all within the Ilorin metropolis.

The fuel crisis palpably manifested in the unavailability of the commodity in most of filling stations in the city. The situation had since spilled to other major cities in the country with no end in sight.

Due to the raging crisis, commuters and travelers also got stranded in most of bus termina and motor parks.

Visits to major motor parks within Ilorin metropolis showed that passengers jam packed most of them waiting endlessly to get commercial vehicles that will convey them to their respective destinations.

The effect also saw many private motorists abandoning their cars because of unavailability of fuel in town. Both public and private officials were cut in the web of the fuel shortages.

Unlike in some state capitals where fuel is still in circulation, albeit dispensed at unauthorized prices with motorists moving in and out of filling stations with ease, the case of Ilorin was peculiarly disturbing as both major and independent stations remained under lock and key.

The few stations that sold the commodity witnessed mammoth crowd of buyers who scrambled ceaselessly to get from the scarce product.

However, the persistent fuel crisis in the city has turned to be an harvest period for black marketers.

At major areas within the metropolis, black marketers of fuel were seen by the roadsides displaying their ware while some marketers of illicit business also make intermittent calls to desperate motorists to buy from them.

Finding showed that the price of the commodity varies, depending on the quality of the product.

For instance, five litres of fuel funneled in gallon are sold between N900 and N1000. Investigation revealed that a gallon of undiluted fuel is sold at N1000 while a diluted one goes for N900.

With the raging shortage of fuel in the city, black marketers are making brisk business in Ipata Oloje, post-Office and Challenge areas.

The situation has caused many motorists and concerned citizens to worry on how and where the broad day dealers get the commodity sold at outrageous prices.

In an exclusive chat, the immediate-past chairman of Kwara State council of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Farouk Akanbi, said Nigerians were the architect of their own misfortune.

Akanbi, who absolved government of any blame over the persistent crisis, urged fuel dealers to be complementary to the government effort at cushioning the negative effect of the debacle.

He said, "I want to commend government for the effort its making, but I think our problem in Nigeria are Nigerians ourselves. If government is making fuel available at whatever cost and getting to filling stations, the Department of petroleum Resources is insisting that people should not buy in Jerricans, but we don't know how they eventually managed to get it

"It means Nigerians are the ones who are causing problem for ourselves. So, I want to call on petroleum marketers to please fear God and be sincere to Nigerians in whatever they do. They should realise that whatever we do on this earth, no matter what we make, everything is vanity and we would account before God one day.

"So they should do everything according to the way it should be done to minimize the hardship for Nigerians. If government is making effort, let the effort of government materializes and let it be beneficial to Nigerians", Akanbi stated.

To the Dean, Students Affairs, University of Ilorin, professor Abayomi Omotesho, removal of fuel subsidy would end the recurring crisis of acute shortage of the commodity in the country.

In a telephone chat yesterday, the don stated that since Nigerians were not deriving the expected benefit from the subsidy on petroleum products, it was an indication that the payment was no longer sustainable.

He stressed the need for government to encourage more people to build refineries to address the effect of fuel crisis in the country.

Omotesho said, "If there is problem with demand and supply, black market will come up. It is like a double jeopardy for typical Nigerians. We are not getting the fuel at subsidized price of N87 (per litre), subsidy is being paid to some people. So I would rather advice that government should remove the subsidy. Let's get over it. The prices will stabilize after sometime so that this thing (fuel) can be available.

"paying subsidy to people and we are not getting the thing at a subsided price, I don't see the sustainability of this thing. With the pipelines that have broken everywhere, that is another major challenge.

"When you get the product, most of it imported anyway, if we can encourage people to establish more refineries, I think that will provide opportunity for employment. The money removed from subsidy can be used in some other sectors.

"Since we have a government now that we can trust, if remove subsidy, if it can be plough back into some other sectors of the economy, we will be doing better".

However, Operation Controller of Department of Petroleum Resources in Kwara State, Mr Salvation Philip, said the mandate of his office is restricted to those legitimately licensed to operate sale of petroleum products.

He stated that riding the state of illegal fuel marketers was the responsibility of the police and othe security agencies to tackle.

Philip maintained that the department had put measures in place to eliminate diversion and siphoning of the commodity into black markets.

"It is an illegal business, though we don't have any control or directive over it. Because we are not police, we are not DSS, we can only control marketers. That is why we put certain measures in place to make sure that fuel doesn't get to them (black marketers).

"To ensure that we monitor what comes in, we insisted that all trucks should be landed at the depot so that we certify quality and also monitor them (marketers) to ensure that the trucks get to the stations. We deep into their tanks to know the quantity of fuel both day and night.

"All these are measures put in place to ensure that fuel is not being diverted or siphoned into black market. So, how they (black marketers) are getting the fuel, is what we don't know.

"My mandate controls those legitimately licensed to sell petroleum products. It (black market) is a criminal activity, which the police and the relevant security agencies should tackle. Anybody has his own mandate. We have put measures in place to ensure that fuel is only sold at the filling stations. We also stopped sale of fuel in jerricans

"Once this scarcity is over, nobody will visit black marketers. The permanent solution is outright deregulation of downstream sector of oil industry", Philip said.

With celebration of christmas today, there appears to be no respite yet on the crisis as many stations were locked to customers within Ilorin metropolis. The announcement by the Federal Government for adequate provision of fuel for yuletide has not minimized the ugly situation.

When would the crisis end? It is a matter of time