Protesters, on Thursday blocked the Lagos-Benin
expressway at Oluku junction in response to the
hike in petrol litre price and the scarcity of the
product.
Motorists and passengers, who were left stranded
for hours, expressed dissatisfaction over the
situation.
The protesters, many of them youths, lamented the
hike in petrol price as well its unavailability.
The development comes less than 72 hours after
President Muhammadu Buhari approved the setup
of a 14-member steering committee on petroleum
products supply and distribution management.
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The constitution of the committee was announced
on Tuesday in a statement signed by Horatius Egua,
senior adviser (media and communications) to
Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum
resources.
Sylva will serve as the alternate chairman, while
Buhari is the chair of the steering committee.
Other members of the committee are Zainab
Ahmed, minister of finance; Gabriel Aduda,
permanent secretary, ministry of petroleum
resources; Doyin Salami, national economic adviser
to the president; and Yusuf Bichi, director-general,
Department of State Services (DSS).
Committee members also include Hameed Ali,
comptroller-general of Nigeria Customs Service
(NCS); Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairperson, Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); and
Ahmed Audi, commandant-general, Nigeria Security
and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Farouk Ahmed, chief executive officer (CEO),
Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum
Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA); Godwin Emefiele,
governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Mele Kyari,
group chief executive officer, Nigerian National
Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited; and Umar
Farouk, senior special assistant to Sylva, are also in
the committee.
Meanwhile, despite the disparity in pump prices at
filling stations, the federal government has denied
increasing the price of petrol.
