As the price of fuel skyrocted, Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Tuesday berated fuel marketers for taking undue advantage of Nigerians,
Sanwo-Olu gave the charge when he paid a surprise working visit to civil servants at the secretariat in Alausa, Ikeja.
The governor was accompanied by his Deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, and the duo were taking round by Head of Service, Mr Hakeem Muri-Okunola.
Recall that the President Bola Ahmad Tinubu had hinted during his inaugural address that fuel subsidy is gone.
Sanwo-Olu, who described the sudden hike in petrol price and attendant queues as ‘unfair’, said: “I think it’s unfair of our major marketers to seize opportunities in areas when not needed. We all need to be sincere in this country if we really want to get things done. Let us know that we might need to belt up a little bit, but we really need it so that we can have a better life in future.
“There is nothing that has changed in that pronouncement that should have caused queues, but I’m sure the Federal Government is able to deal with it. I encourage everyone to be law abiding, go about their normal businesses and things will turn out for the better for us.”
Sanwo-Olu, who visited the Civil Service Commission, Ministries of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), Economic Planning and Budget as well as Youth and Social Development, said it was to encourage staff to ask questions and see how to keep things running.
He said: “We are here to ensure that everybody is on board and key into the THEME PLUS agenda we set for this second term. How well to sync the additional pillars to ensure everything works well together. That is why we visited the ministries of Youths and Social Development, WAPA, Budget and Economic Planning because they are important to the plus agenda and fit into our game plan for the next four years. I am happy that we received very articulate responses from the public officers and civil servants.
“I am also happy that the ambience and work environment is conducive for the workers to be productive. We have resumed back at work, and excited that the public service is ready to also continue to serve the good people of Lagos State.
“After this brief tour, we will be meeting the entire body of permanent secretaries so we can be on the same page because the THEMES PLUS agenda is about additional reforms, citizen-driven policies that will touch the lives of people. I’m always ready to take care of them, and we’ve been doing that, so there’s nothing for anybody to worry about. We’ve demonstrated that all the time so there is nothing for us to worry about.”
.Mutfwang urges petrol dealers against exploiting Plateau citizens
Following the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government, Plateau State Governor, Barr. Caleb Mutfwang has appealed to petroleum marketers not to take advantage of the situation to hoard fuel and exploit citizens.
He noted that while government has taken deliberate steps to ease hardship and pains of citizens, petroleum marketers should avoid creating unnecessary scarcity and a hike in prices of the product.
Barr. Mutfwang in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Gyang Bere said if the quest to build a new and united Plateau, must be concretized, citizens must take deliberate steps to avoid issues that will further inflict hardship and pains on an already traumatized citizenry.
He said as a government that prioritizes the well being of its people, actions that tend to impede this goal must be resisted.
Governor Mutfwang appealed to all petrol stations in the state to open their outlets and commence the sales of the product to curtail the artificial scarcity that is being experienced in most parts of the state.
He said the state government will not condone any form of extortion of the people, pointing out that any such attempt will not be tolerated.
Daily Champion correspondent who went round Jos and Bukuru metropolis Tuesday, discovered that most of the fueling station were lock and key.
It was also gathered that those stations selling the petroleum products there is serious hike as the pump price now is N400 to N500 per litre.
Recall, President Asiwaju Tinubu suspended fuel subsidy regime on Monday immediately he took the oath of allegiance.
Pundits said the idea of subsidy removal is a good policy but the timing is wrong most especially now that majority Nigerians are yet to recovered from Muhammadu Buhari administration harsh economic policy.
.Osun govt warns oil marketers against hoarding
Osun State Government has warned fuel stations in the state to desist from hoarding Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol.
The government declared that the Special Monitoring Team on fuel scarcity set up by Governor Ademola Adeleke, headed by the Chief of Staff, Kazeem Akinleye is still effective and has commenced duty to prosecute erring marketers.
This was contained in a release issued by the Governor’s Spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed on Tuesday.
“The attention of the Osun State Government has been drawn to the deliberate hoarding of PMS by the fuel dealers within the State as a result of the statement from the Inaugural Speech of the new President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the removal of fuel subsidy, thereby causing unnecessary hardship for the people in the State.
“This deliberate action is not only inhumane but unpatriotic and will not be allowed by the government. To this end, the Special Monitoring Team on fuel scarcity set up by His Excellency, Governor Ademola Nurudeen Jackson Adeleke headed by the Chief of Staff, Hon Kazeem Akinleye is still effective and shall not condone any form of economic sabotage.
“As from today, 30th May 2023, the Committee shall begin special monitoring of all the filling stations across the state in collaboration with law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders.
“Any fuel station found guilty of hoarding fuel to create artificial scarcity shall be sealed off and operators prosecuted for crime of economic sabotage,” the release read.
.Oyebanji orders indefinite closure of filling stations hoarding fuel, selling at unauthorized prices in Ekiti
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, has directed all filling stations across the state to start selling fuel within the approved price or risk being shut down indefinitely.
Consequently, the Governor has mandated the State Task Force on Petroleum Product and security agencies in the state to move round filling stations, starting from Wednesday morning to enforce the directive.
Oyebanji handed down the directives Tuesday during a meeting he held with the leadership of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), members of the task force and heads of security agencies in the state at the Governor’s office, Ado-Ekiti.
He ordered the task force to visit all filling stations and seal off any filling station that is hoarding petroleum product, or selling at an unauthorised price, or found to have manipulated their metres.
This is after the task force might have supervised the sale of such hoarded product to the public.
He also directed the security agencies to provide adequate security for the task force to ensure the success of the task.
The marketers, who apologised on behalf of their erring members, promised to deploy their own task force to ensure compliance with the Governor’s order, even as they promised to cooperate with the State Task Force and the state government to ensure that the petroleum product are available.
Oyebanji, who appealed to the marketers to await further directives form the Federal Government on the planned subsidy removal, said it would amount to share wickedness for anyone to hoard the product or unilaterally increase the price petroleum product before the full implementation of the policy.
“We will not sit here and allow some people make life difficult for our people. The subsidy removal has not been effected. Any filling station hoarding fuel or selling at unauthorised prices would be sealed indefinitely. The Task force and the security agents will go out Wednesday morning. I have called this meeting so we can both look at the situation together because any filling station that is sealed will remain so till the end of the year.
“No station has the right to hoard fuel. If they did not give you fuel or you have exhausted your supply, we will understand and nobody will blame you for not selling fuel” the Governor said.
Oyebanji disclosed that governors, under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) will meet on the issue of the planned subsidy removal next week, adding that Ekiti would not tolerate any attempt by any marketer to inflict hardship on the people through hoarding and unauthorised hike in price.
Present at the meeting were the Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Command, Ogundare Emmanuel; Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Brigadier-General Ebenezer Ogundana (rtd), Director of State Security Service, Head of Service, Barrister Bamidele Agbede, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Mr Yinka Oyebode, and other top government officials.
