The Delta Government has set up a monitoring team to track the distribution of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to ensure availability and sale at the official pump price.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief Patrick Ukah, and made available to journalists on Thursday in Asaba.
The government said that the measure became necessary to check the attendant hardship people in the state were daily facing due to petrol scarcity and the over pricing of the commodity by some marketers.
Ukah said that the government would monitor the distribution of the petroleum product from the point of loading by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) to the point of discharge to the various outlets across the state.
“It is to save the people and residents of the state from the stress and strains they are currently going through due to the non-availability of the product”.
The SSG, however, appealed to major marketers of the product to continue to show empathy to the suffering of fellow citizens and do their utmost to ensure best practice in the product delivery as the present circumstances warrant.
He expressed the government’s gratitude to the people of the state for their resilience in these trying times, adding that no one should exploit the situation by stirring up violence for selfish gains.
Ukah said that members of the monitoring team include the Commissioner for Oil and Gas as Chairman, representatives of the Commissioner for Information, the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Army and Navy.
Other members include representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Tanker Drivers Union, National Union of Road Transport Workers, Civil Society Organisations while the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Oil and Gas will serve as Secretary.
