Oyebanji orders closure of filling stations hoarding fuel, selling at unauthorized prices
Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji orders closure of 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 around filling stations, starting from Wednesday morning, to enforce the directive.
Governor Oyebanji handed down these directives 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 state task force, and heads of security agencies in the state at the Governor’s office in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday.
He directed the task force to visit all filling stations and seal off any filling station that is hoarding petroleum products or selling at an unauthorized price, or found to have manipulated their meters. This is after the task force might have supervised the sale of such hoarded products 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 apologized 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 products are available.
The Governor, who appealed to the marketers to await further directives from the Federal Government on the planned subsidy removal, said it would amount to sheer wickedness for anyone to hoard the product or unilaterally increase the price of petroleum products before the full implementation of the policy.
“We will not sit here and allow some people to make life difficult for our people. The subsidy removal has not been effected. Any filling station hoarding fuel or selling at unauthorized prices will 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 until 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.
Governor Oyebanji disclosed that state 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 unauthorized price hikes.
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 (retired), 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.
