Journalists in Uyo call for dissolution of Petroleum Monitoring Task Force, describe Akwa Ibom as ‘costliest place to buy petroleum products’

Mr. Joe Effiong, Chair, NUJ, Akwa Ibom State

The Akwa Ibom State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has passed a vote of no confidence on the State Task Force on Petroleum Monitoring, an agency set up by the state government to regulate sales and availability of petroleum products in the state.

Consequently, the union has asked the state government to immediately disband the task force since it has outlived its usefulness.

In a resolution taken at its April monthly congress which took place at the NUJ Press Centre, Information Drive, Uyo, recently, the union said it was appalling to observe that Akwa Ibom, which is ranked as the highest producer of crude oil, has also become the costliest place to buy petroleum products even when the task force for petroleum monitoring was still in place.

Apart from high cost of petrol which sells for between N105 and N120, the union said nearly all service stations in the state including major marketers and NNPC mega stations, had gone into corporate graft of under-dispensing their products even when they charge exorbitant prices.

The congress which was presided over by the state council chairman, Mr. Joe Effiong, equally asked the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) “to begin to live up to its responsibilities by checking fraudulent activities of petroleum marketers,” stressing that by its deliberate inefficiency and acquiescence, the department appears to be colluding with the marketers to fleece the people of the state.

The union also frowned at the progressively high electric tariffs issued to customers by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) even when it has not been able to provide electricity to the people of the state, especially those living in Uyo, the capital city.

The journalists asked PHCN to stop further issuance of electric bills until it was sure that its services and the bills were directly proportional instead of the current inverse proportion.

The union sympathized with the people who are paying exorbitantly for darkness and are further swindled by the petroleum marketers with active connivance of the DPR and the task force.