Lagos — In a move aimed at curtailing the activities of black market operators and others benefiting from people's misery, the Federal Government has ordered a 24-hour surveillance of petrol stations by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). Officials of the DPR would therefore be assigned to petrol stations across the country in order to carry out the directive, THISDAY learnt.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, handed down the order as the widespread fuel scarcity in the country continues to bite hard. Government has also outlawed selling of petrol on roadsides and directed the police to arrest and prosecute offenders. Briefing journalists on the development yesterday, Director of DPR Mr. Billy Agha, said that before the latest directive, DPR had carried out 24-hour surveillance on oil terminals where crude oil is being loaded and on the rigs where drilling operations take place.

The exercise had to be extended however, because of the acute fuel crisis, he explained. "In order to stem the ongoing fuel crisis, the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, has ordered a 24-hour surveillance by the DPR to deal decisively with the menace of wayside/street peddling and restricted sale of fuel at filling stations to the public, as well as any form of hoarding," he said. "As you are aware, some of these issues are emanating from the fact that some of these filling stations are selling fuel to motorists at their stations.

They are dispensing to jerry-cans and those jerry-cans have constituted a menace on the wayside." According to the petroleum laws, those roadsides are not licensed for filling stations and they are not legally bound to sell petrol. So, that is an illegal act and it has added to the suffering of the public. Government is awake to its responsibility; its first concern is the citizens of this country. In view of that, the DPR has woken up to its challenges. Hitherto, we close by dusk but with this new directive, the DPR has constituted itself into 24-hour surveillance team," he added. According to him, DPR officials could walk into any filling station even at the middle of the night to monitor its activities and report to the appropriate authorities. "If he notices anything going wrong, he will report.

If he cannot deal with the situation decisively and he cannot get across to the police as soon as possible, then what will happen is that we will mark the filling station and report appropriately to the police the next day," he said. Agha insisted that the problem was not about sufficiency of product but distribution hiccup. He added that there is enough fuel in the system. The nationwide surveillance, he said, has command and control centres in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Warri, Owerri, Calabar, Kaduna and Maiduguri.

He warned dealers at filling stations not to sell petroleum products in jerry-cans and to deploy all pumps to dispense any available fuel in their stations. He urged the Nigeria Police to assist in arresting and prosecuting any individual selling petrol by the wayside, streets or premises that are not licensed. In a related development, the Lagos State Government has exempted tanker drivers from restriction in this month's environmental sanitation exercise which holds tomorrow, Saturday, December 26th. The exercise will take place between 7 and 10am. According to the Comm-issioner for Environment, Dr Muiz Banire, in a statement signed by his Public Relations Officer, Mr. Segun Ogundeji, all law enforcement agents had been informed to allow tanker drivers move freely during the sanitation hours to enable them discharge their contents at designated filling stations to ease the suffering arising from fuel scarcity.

He added that the sanitation exercise is aimed at creating a cleaner, healthier and sustainable environment that would promote economic growth and well being of the citizens of Lagos State. Banire encouraged Lagos residents to troop out in large numbers to clean their environment, adding that the ministry was ready to deploy more human and material resources to ensure that all refuse generated during the Christmas celebration are promptly evacuated. The commissioner appealed to all residents to bag their refuse properly to allow for easy disposal to the designated dumpsites.

He warned that disposal of waste especially animal dung, blood and other remnants of slaughtered animals, turkey and chicken constitute a high risk of epidemics and pollution of surface and underground water. According to him, "cleanliness is next to godliness. We cannot but encourage cleanliness in all aspects of human endeavour." He therefore enjoined all and sundry to ensure that the festival is celebrated in the cleanest environment possible.

He urged residents to report anyone found dumping refuse in any water path or any unauthorized place as the consequence of shielding such people is to collectively endanger the lives and properties of everyone. The commissioner noted that tax payer's money that could have been used for further development would be recommitted to reclaiming the environment from further degradation and funding health bills.