WHERE IS THE BAYELSA STATE PETROLEUM TASK FORCE SET UP BY GOV. DICKSON?

As residents and motorists in Bayelsa state continue to lament high cost of petroleum product despite the directive from the federal government, warning against petrol stations, still seling above #145 per litre.

The question "WHERE IS THE BAYELSA STATE PETROLEUM TASK FORCE?" comes to bear.

Petrol stations in the state are still selling within the range of #250 to #280 per litre. They sell their products without any fear of regulatory authorities. One would begin to wonder if these authorities have not been compromised.

It could be recalled that on the 18th of March 2016, the Bayelsa state government led by Hon. Henry seriake Dickson inaugurated a petroleum taskforce committee, with the following mandate:

• That the government wants arbitrary price

• That the government wants quality of products checked

• Putting an end to the issue of diversion of petroleum products allocated to Bayelsa

• The Governor emphasised that petroleum product in the State were the highest in the South-South region, he therefore called on the task force to undertake periodic inspection of all filling stations in the state, with a view to ensuring that they dispense products according to the regulated pump price.

In his words: “From the reports I have been receiving, the price of petroleum products in this state is about the highest in the South-South region. And to me, there is no reason for that because petroleum products are regulated.

“This task force, therefore, has my mandate to go round the filling stations. I will tell the security to second some officers to you; so you should make sure that, petroleum products of all kinds sold in this state are of the right prices and quality, because I hear, they sell a lot of adulterated fuel that causes a lot of problems for all of us, who are using generators and vehicles.”

According to him, effective monitoring of the activities of petroleum marketers will go a long way in checking the distribution of adulterated products and other sharp practices, aimed at short changing the people.

Members of the Taskforce are:

The chairman of the Petroleum task force is Mr. Okosikeme Emmanuel, while More-Money Azikiwe, Alamco Wariebi, Pere Akpolo and Ebiye Suoteigha are to serve as members.

Others are Mr. Mitin Living, Emmanuel Enock, Baratuapre Daniel and Ebidiseghabofa Exodus.

More than one year after this taskforce is constituted, there has been no significant improvement on the issue, especially in the late 2017, as the issue of fuel prices lingered.

Bayelsans have neither seen any workdone or actions been carried out by this taskforce.

Therefore the question, WHERE IS THE BAYELSA STATE PETROLEUM TASK FORCE?