Residents of Zaria, Kaduna State, have called on the Federal Government to urgently address the acute shortage of petrol in the area.

The residents made the call in separate interviews with newsmen in Zaria.

Alhaji Mohammed Bebeji, a resident, said that there was a need for the government to intervene to provide a lasting solution to the problem.

He said that if urgent measures were not taken, the problem would inflict more hardship on the residents.

 “I appeal to the government to come to our aid. This is because a common man will not understand what led to the scarcity, the blame will be on government, not the marketers that hoard the commodity,” Bebeji said.

Another resident, Malam Idi Murabus, described the situation as pathetic, saying, ”to my understanding, some people are trying to scuttle the efforts of government.

“The partial removal of petrol subsidy is not meant to inflict hardship on the people but to gain additional funds to enable the government to execute more projects.

“However, some people are hiding under this cover to exploit the people. Many of these petrol marketers have fuel in their filling stations but they refuse to open the stations,” he said.

It was learnt that  many filling stations in Zaria were not open for business.