As fuel scarcity continues nationwide in Nigeria, many Uber drivers have been left with no choice but to park their vehicles.
It would be recalled that almost 200 million litres of adulterated petrol were imported into the country, a development that caused a shortage of the commodity.
Since the high percentage of methanol was discovered in the market, Nigerian authorities withdrew the commodity from public consumption, which resolved the shortage of petrol.
While some filling stations are selling petrol at ridiculous prices, many of them have shut down operations, as they couldn’t secure the commodity to meet public demands.
However, in what appeared to be a harsh consequence of the petrol shortage, many Uber drivers have been at home, as they blamed their inability to work on the development.
“It is no news that fuel scarcity comes with an increase in prices of petrol, and it’s not only that, you have to hustle to get it. If you are not a patient person and someone who is determined, you will never get petrol to buy this petrol.
“And not a lot of us can go through all this, which is why some of us have not worked in over two weeks now,” Nathaniel Olayemi, Uber told BizWatch Nigeria correspondent.
Sharing his ordeal, another driver of the ride-hailing service, said he bought incomplete four litres of petrol for N4,000, adding that Uber is not making it reasonable for him and alongside his colleagues, to work.
“The traffic situation in Lagos has worsened since petrol became a scarce commodity in Lagos. This is because there are long queues at filling stations across the state. Aside from the fact that you take a lot of risks by buying from the black market, how about the traffic?” the driver who doesn’t want his name mentioned in this report queried, as he lamented that “drivers are not gaining.
