On Tuesday Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Chairman and Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has cautioned oil marketers to avoid imposing needless hardship on the citizens through creation of artificial fuel scarcity in the state and beyond.
The warning is coming barely hours after reports of arbitrary increase in the pump price of fuel and artificial scarcity by marketers in the state which followed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration to end fuel subsidy in the country.
“The Governor is seriously concerned about reports of sudden fuel scarcity in different parts of the state. This is totally uncalled for. He asks fuel marketers to immediately discharge fuel to the public under the normal pricing system since they had bought what they currently have at subsidised rates,” according to a Government House statement by his spokesman, Rafiu Ajakaye, in Ilorin on Tuesday morning.
“Creating artificial scarcity amounts to intentional misrepresentation of the statement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, on the question of fuel subsidy. The people should not be made to undergo any hardship.
“The Governor urges the marketers to desist from anything that qualifies as economic sabotage of the people. Hoarding fuel bought at subsidised price and creating panic in the state is opportunistic and will not be condoned.
“His Excellency the Deputy Governor Mr. Kayode Alabi will be leading a task force to ensure that no fuel marketer causes undue hardship to the citizens in Kwara State.”
“Fuel stations are to note that the Task Force will dip into their pits. Any filling stations found to be hoarding fuel will have their Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) revoked, among other penalties,” the statement warned.
The Osun State Government also raised alarm over the alleged deliberate hoarding of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, in the state.
In a statement signed by the spokesperson to Governor Ademola Adeleke on Tuesday, he said the government has information that fuel dealers within the state were deliberately hoarding PMS as a result of the statement from the inauguration speech of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the removal of fuel subsidy.
While warning that the action would not be allowed, he added that it would further cause unnecessary hardship for the people of the state because it is inhumane and unpatriotic.
The statement reads, “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.”
The government warned that as from Tuesday, May 30, 2023, the Committee shall begin special monitoring of all the filling stations across the state in collaboration with law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders.
It also warned that any fuel station found guilty of hoarding fuel to create artificial scarcity shall be sealed off and operators prosecuted for the crime of economic sabotage.
Recalls that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his inaugural speech disclosed that the fuel subsidy regime is over.
