The Osun State Government has threatened to close down gas stations that are stockpiling Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), in light of the recent fuel shortage in Nigeria.
“Any fuel station found guilty of hoarding fuel to create artificial scarcity shall be sealed off and operators prosecuted for crime of economic sabotage,” Governor Ademola Adeleke said in a statement on Tuesday through his spokesman, Olawale Rasheed.
Following Bola Tinubu‘s inaugural speech, in which he declared that fuel subsidies are no longer necessary, the nation experienced a new fuel shortage.
“Fuel subsidy is gone,” Tinubu declared in his inaugural speech at the Eagle Square on May 29 after he was sworn in as Nigeria’s 16th President.
The previous governor of Lagos State said that the fuel subsidy was not included in the 2023 Budget and that it was no longer justified.
Since then, Tinubu’s call for the elimination of gasoline subsidies has received support from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
Since the president’s announcement, fuel lines have reappeared all throughout the nation as Nigerians scramble for the expensive product.
The Osun State Government warned marketers that the deliberate stockpiling of PMS by the state’s petroleum dealers as a result of Tinubu’s statement had put the state’s residents through unnecessarily difficult times.
“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,” the statement partly read.