Oil marketers diverting, hoarding petrol in Osun, says monitoring committee
By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo
The Petroleum Monitoring Committee in Osun State said it has discovered that some oil marketers in the state are diverting/hoarding Premium Motor Spirits (PMS), thereby creating scarcely of the product in the state.
Chairman of the committee, Kazeem Akinleye, made this known in a statement signed by the governor’s spokesperson, Rasheed Olawale.
Akinleye, who is also the Chief of Staff to the governor, noted that findings from the relevant agencies revealed that Osun State was allocated several tankers of petrol, which are not reflecting across filling stations in the state, an indication that diversion may have been happening.
He said the monitoring committee has contacted the relevant authorities and is therefore aware of the actual PMS allocation to the state including the actual list of companies and stations allocated the product.
Akinleye warned against diversion of petrol, noting that anyone caught to be hoarding fuel allocated to the state will face the wrath of the law.
“We have contacted the top management of the NNPC Limited and we have full details of oil marketers and the exact number of PMS allocated to each of them from January to date. There is clear evidence that some owners of filling stations are diverting PMS instead of bringing it to Osun.
“We are by this statement placing on notice all owners of filling stations in Osun State that we have all the facts about allocated PMS. We will soon commence physical monitoring exercise and we will not hesitate to invoke regulatory actions on those found wanting.
“To make the exercise very inclusive, the governor has approved the expansion of the committee to include members of civil society coalition. The committee will host its maiden meeting very soon,” he said.
