As fuel scarcity continues to take its toll on commuters in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, black marketers are exploiting the opportunity to inflate the price as a gallon of petrol is now sold between N700 and N750 to desperate consumers.
It was gathered that many of the unofficial marketers adulterated the product to reap undue profit from the proceeds.

City Rove checks showed that some marketers were seen mostly in Maraba during the day while others usually converge at Post-Office during the night with displayed gallons of petrol to draw the attention of prospective buyers.

However, the worsening fuel crisis within Ilorin and its suburbs has compelled  consumers to opt for the black market price since most filling stations including major and independent marketers had shut their gates to customers with a claim that they had run out of stock.

A few of them that sold the product to members of the public on Monday, according to City Rove findings, dispensed it within the prices ranging from N120 and N130 per litre with long queues of cars and motorcycles recorded.
Only NNPC Mega stations and few major and independent marketers sold at official pump price of N97 per litre, it was learnt on Monday.

A visit to the NNPC station (former Mark Petrol station) at Tanke area showed that petrol also known as Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, was dispensed to the users with long queue of cars.

At Fabb Oil &Gas Ltd on the same road, City Rove gathered that a litre of fuel was being sold for N120 around 10:30am when Herald correspondent arrived the station.

Also at Sango road, filling stations such as Okin Oloja and MD Ayoka, motorists were seen allegedly queuing up to procure fuel at unofficial price.

At Maraba area, a black marketer who preferred anonymity told Herald correspondent that he sold a gallon of petrol (mostly five litres) between N700 and N750 and sometimes N800 depending on the desperation of the buyers.
When asked about how he got the commodity, he simply replied, "where do you expect me to get it than the normal place they sold it. We queued for hours in a filling station before we could buy it and you don't expect me to sell at the price I got it".

City Rove however observed that this period has become harvest time for the black marketers as they were seen busy attending to customers.

In a telephone chat on Monday , the Special Assistant to the state Governor on Petroleum Monitoring, Alhaji Lawal Isiaka Amubieya, denied any knowledge of the existence of black marketers of petrol within the Ilorin metropolis.
He said the state government was making frantic efforts to ensure that the situation phased out in no distant time.

The persistent fuel crisis contradicted the claims that the problem, which had hitherto confronted major cities nationwide, would subside with the release of about 100 million litres of the commodity by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.