The Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, Engr. Salihu Yakubu Danladi has decried the artificial scarcity of fuel, which resulted to hike in price of petroleum products in Baruten Local Government and called for immediate remedy to the issue.
The lawmaker disclosed this in a meeting with the Acting Coordinator, Joint Border Drill, Sector 3, Kwara Customs Comptroller Mohammed, according to a statement made available to newsmen by his Special Assistant on Media, Ibrahim Sheriff.
The Speaker, who was accompanied by his counterpart from Okuta/Yashikira constituency of Baruten, Mohammed Baba Salihu noted that the artificial scarcity in the community is majorly caused by Federal Government’s efforts towards checkmating smugglers who divert petroleum products allocated to filling stations in the area to neighboring countries.
He said “the sufferings of our people in Baruten communities is as result of the inordinate execution of Federal Government order banning fuel supply to filling stations located 20kilometers or below from border communities to checkmate smuggling activities.
As much as this step by the Federal Government is in good faith and supported by the Kwara state House of Assembly, we however noticed that security operatives in our communities, which are on the border routes, seize petroleum products lawfully allocated to communities like Ilesha, Sinawu, Gwanara among others with no direct route to, and over 20kilometers away from the country’s border”, Danladi said.
He added, “Consequently, at the moment, a litre of petrol is sold for as high as between N300-N350, that is where it is rarely available.”
He therefore called on the Nigeria Customs Service to look into the matter and allow communities located in areas farther than the 20kilometers federal government benchmark to take petroleum products lawfully allocated to their filling stations, to enable the people access to the products and ameliorate their suffering.
In his response, the Acting Coordinator, Joint Border Drill, Sector 3, Kwara Customs, Comptroller U G Mohammed, thanked the legislators for intimating the sector of the development, noting that their plights would be swiftly looked into.
He assured the lawmakers that the traditional institutions and other stakeholders from the local government would be engaged to find a lasting solution to the problem.
