Residents of Yewaland living within border communities in Idiroko, Imeko-Afon, Oja- Odan and other areas in Ogun State have appealed to President Bola Tinubu to lift the suspension on the supply of petroleum products within a 20km radius to the country’s border with Benin Republic.
This was contained in a statement by the National President of Yewa Defender Movement, Temi Amusan, made available to our reporter in Abeokuta.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2019 banned the supply of petroleum products to Nigerians living within 20km to the country’s frontiers to curtail the diversion of subsidised fuel to neighbouring countries.
Amusan said, “The suspension order by the federal government since 2019 has negatively impacted on the socio-economic activities with attendant hardships to lives and livelihoods of people living in the border towns and communities like Idiroko axis as only four licensed independent petroleum marketers are allowed to dispense the commodity to hundreds of thousands of people living in the area.”
He said with the removal of fuel subsidy by President Tinubu, the subsisting restriction order on the supply of the product to the affected border communities “is no longer justified.”
Amusan maintained that “the removal of the fuel subsidy means that the smuggling of petrol is no longer profitable and that the commodity should freely circulate within the country without restrictions.”
According to him, the security agents with many illegal checkpoints, “were taking advantage of the existing suspension order to harass and extort the people found with as little as 5 litres of petrol purchased for domestic use.”
He urged the president to address the issue so as to ameliorate the suffering of the people.
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