Worried by the persisting fuel scarcity which has resulted in long queues of vehicle at filling stations across the state, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan read a riot act to officials of Pipeline and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) and the Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR) at a meeting in Government House Asaba yesterday.

Governor Uduaghan had summoned the officials to his office after failing to meet with him Wednesday in Warri.

Fallout of the meeting which was attended by members of the State Executive Council was the setting up of a high powered committee to map out strategies to check the biting fuel scarcity in the state tackle by Governor Uduaghan.

The Chairman of the Committee is Commissioner for Power and Energy, Comrade Ovuozorie Macauley, while the members are, Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Chinwe Olanrewaju, Commissioner for Special Duties, Warri Water Project, Evangelist Champion Kpateghe, Special Adviser on Oil and Gas, Mr. David Ekerekosu.

Others include the Chairman Nigerian Labour Congress, Comrade Mike Okeme, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Jacob Oshiomogho, Director, State Security Service, Delta State Command, Mr. Chris Ojobor, Information Commissioner, Mr. Oma Djebah and representatives of the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

Governor Uduaghan said the Warri Refinery was working optimally and supply has not reduced, and therefore charged the Committee to ensure that tankers got fuel to their destination. Dr. Uduaghan also charged the Committee to announce on a daily basis the quantity of fuel supplied to petrol stations in all the media houses in the State.

The governor also charged the PPMC and DPR to be diligent in their duties and avoid sharp practices to ensure sanity in the entire process and mandated the committee to meet with officials of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and to ensure that “every fuel loaded from the PPMC gets to their designated destinations and sold to the public.”

Emphasizing further Governor Uduaghan said “The Committee should ensure it monitors the products from PPMC depot to their destinations to ensure that the products are not diverted. The Committee should ensure that the daily statistics of the number of trucks dispatched from PPMC depot, the filing stations it is to be delivered to, and ensure that the products are sold to motorists.”

He said fuel scarcity is a threat to security and warned motorist against panic buying and buying into containers. He said the state Security Council would meet to brainstorm on how to tackle consistent vandalization of pipelines which has resulted in the non-pumping of products to the PPMC depot in Benin and thus putting on undue pressure on the Warri lifting depot.

The Governor also warned against the danger of putting fuel in containers and therefore urged motorists that in the interest of their lives and those of their families, they should refrain from storing fuel in their houses.

Dr. Uduaghan said the scarcity presently experienced would soon be over and appealed to both the PPMC and DPR to live up to expectation and check diversion of product both within and outside the State.

Earlier, the Area Manager of PPMC, Mr. Godwin Meteke announced that his office has increased the supply of fuel to petrol stations from 30 to 40 trucks per day. He said there was no fuel shortage in PPMC and promised to dispatch the list of filing Stations supplied fuel on a daily basis to government monitoring Committee.

According to him “There is no fuel shortage in Delta State PPMC depot, we normally dispatch 30 trucks daily to filing stations in the State and because of the recent crisis we increased it to 40 trucks daily.”

Mr. Meteke attributed the long queues to petrol station owners who divert products and sell it to black market operators. He also attributed the queues experienced in the State to petrol station owners who reduced service points to one as well as their working hours.

He appealed to the State government to monitor the activities of petrol station owners from where they load to their destination explaining that this would check diversion and hoarding.

Governor Uduaghan had directed the General Manager of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Zonal Director of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Area Manager of the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), to appear before him in Asaba Thursday.

Dr. Uduaghan gave the directive after WRPC’s Andy Yakubu , DPR’s Martins Eluji and their counterpart in PPMC failed to show up for a meeting with him at his Warri residence. Governor Uduaghan called the meeting with the heads of the NNPC’s Strategic Business Units (SBUs) to ascertain the reason(s) behind the scarcity of petroleum products in the state even when they are available elsewhere. The situation has led to increase in fuel price. A litre sells for N170:00 at the black markets and N120 at some petrol stations.

Governor Uduaghan waited in vain for the NNPC officials and got no word on why they could not make it. When it became apparent that the officials would not show up at about 5:00p.m., the governor the Permanent Secretary, Governor’s Office Annex, Warri, to summon the officials to Asaba.

The governor told reporters that he invited them to shed light on the situation and see if there was anything government could do to reverse the trend.

"But, as you can see, they have refused to honour the invitation. I cannot allow the people of my state to continue to suffer. I went around the cities and I saw endless queues of vehicles everywhere and I know it is not like this in other states," Uduaghan said.