Lagos, Delta governors caution fuel marketers against hoarding, price hike

The Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and his Delta counterpart, Sheriff Oborevwori, warned fuel marketers against price hikes following the events of fuel scarcity in Lagos following the removal of fuel subsidy.

The governors disclosed in different statements on Tuesday reacting to news of fuel queues and hoarding in their states.

They added that marketers are taking advantage and will face charges for hoarding and hurting their local economies.

Lagos

Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State berated fuel marketers for taking undue advantage of Nigerians by hiking fuel prices, during a working visit to civil servants at the secretariat in Alausa, Ikeja.

He noted the sudden hike in petrol price and attendant queues as ‘unfair’, adding that Nigerians’ need to be sincere enough, adding:

”I think it’s so early in the day for people to begin to second-guess our new president.

“This is a pronouncement, and I think it’s unfair on all of our major marketers to want to begin to seize an opportunity in areas where there is none.

”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 it’s really so that we have a better life down the line.

The Lagos governor also disclosed that nothing has changed in that pronouncement that should have caused the queue saying he is sure that the Federal Government would be able to rise up and be able to deal with it.

”I will encourage everyone to be law-abiding, to go about their normal business, and things will certainly turn out for the better for us.”

Delta

Meanwhile, Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta cautioned fuel marketers in the state against hoarding of Petroleum products especially Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) adding the state government would not tolerate acts that would make life difficult for the people of the state.

Sherriff said his administration plans to grow the economy of the state through its MORE agenda and solicited the support of all stakeholders in its determination to make life more meaningful for the people, adding:

“We have heard and seen the reaction of petroleum marketers in the state to the announcement of alleged subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu.

“As a government, we will not watch marketers exploit the people of Delta of their hard-earned income through the creation of artificial scarcity.”

He said that the government had been inundated with reports of filling stations in the state hoarding products and thereby creating artificial scarcity with the intent to hike prices and had viewed the action of these marketers as unpatriotic and waging economic war against the people.

Sheriff called on the marketers to be patriotic and continued selling their products to the general public at the official pump price, citing that the relevant government agencies have been directed to monitor the situation and ensure total compliance with the directive.

What you should know

Fuel queues appeared in some parts of Lagos on Monday evening as Nigerians rushed to fill their tanks in reaction to a declaration that there will be no fuel subsidy.

Nigeria’s new president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu stated in his inauguration speech on Monday, May 29th that the controversial fuel subsidy was not budgeted for by the Buhari administration and as such it will be removed.

However, checks by Nairametrics reveal queues appeared in several parts of Lagos shortly after the speech as they expected an increase in fuel prices.