Some major roads in Ilorin, Kwara State capital were deserted yesterday following persistent fuel scarcity in the city. Commercial vehicles also abandoned the roads owing to their inability to get fuel to power their engines.

Some of them queued endlessly in few petrol stations that dispensed to the public in the city. The filling stations, especially those owned by independent marketers sold at N250 per litre.

This followed a report yesterday that transport unions in the state had concluded plan to embark on strike action over failure of the Federal Government to address the lingering fuel crisis.

The state chairmen of National Union of Road Transport Workers and Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Aliyu Issa Ore and Alhaji Saliman Ayoku, however denied any planned industrial action.

Speaking separately to The Herald on telephone yesterday, the chairmen said commercial vehicles would continue to ply the roads while transport fares might be adjusted in line with the reality of the current petrol crisis. However, it was also gathered that some major marketers were diverting some fuel laden trucks to some independent marketers in the desperate quest to make illicit proceeds.

Findings showed that some motorists also queued in filling stations that had no fuel in anticipation that fuel would be available in the affected stations soon. The fuel crisis in the city forced some motorists to opt for petrol in Ogbomoso, a town in Oyo State which was sold at outrageous prices.

A motorist told The Herald yesterday that a litre of fuel went for N200 in Ogbomoso as more people moved from Ilorin to get fuel in the city. Prospective passengers waited endlessly at designated bus stops in Ilorin due to few vehicles available on the roads.

The Herald observed that there was upsurge in the number of vehicles that queued for fuel at Forte Oil along Ajase-Ipo road, which consequently ended in severe traffic gridlock.

Passengers' vehicles were stuck for hours on the road. However, there was no sign that the fuel crisis, which hit Ilorin and its environs in the last eight months would end soon. This is just as the state office of the Department of Petroleum Resources withdrew from monitoring activities of fuel dealers in the state as a result of threat to life of its staff members.