Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has set up a monitoring committee for petroleum products in the state after the dispute between the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Akwa Ibom State Council, and Joint Task Force on Security triggered a petrol price hike to N2500 per litre.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Secretary to the State Government, Enobong Uwah, named Godwin Ekpo, a former lawmaker, as the chairperson of the committee.
The 13-member committee has Peggy Edoho (a representative of the Ministry of Transport) as the secretary.
Other members include the commissioners for Environment and Mineral Resources, Internal Security, and Waterways, the chairperson of the Nigeria Labour Congress in the state, and Victor Etefia, an aide to the governor on petroleum matters.
The committee was announced hours after the governor met with members of the IPMAN, whose withdrawal of services pushed the price of petrol to N2500 a litre in the state.
The petroleum marketers had directed their members to shut down their filling stations over the alleged confiscation of trucks belonging to their members by the Joint Task Force, Operation Delta Safe.
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The directives, which commenced on Tuesday, triggered a rise in petrol and tripled the cost of transportation, prompting the NLC to issue a statement directing workers in the state to withdraw services beginning on Wednesday.
In a statement, Sunday James, chairperson of NLC in the state, said the actions of the petrol marketers have worsened the plights of the impoverished workers in the state.
He had called on the state government to intervene, a plea the government honoured hours after the statement surfaced on social media.
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