The Department of Petroleum Resources had on Tuesday, January 20, 2015 sealed ten filling stations in Ilorin, following their non compliance to sell Petrol at the rate of N87 as directed by the federal government.
The operation controller of the state DPR, Engr Amos Jokodola, who led members of the enforcement team of the department during the monitoring of petrol stations in the state capital, said the agency would not accept the excuse given by the affected stations, Leadership reports.
He added that the stations would have filed an official complaints to relevant bodies pointing out the adverse effect a reduction in the price of the fuel would cause them.
Jokodola maintained that the affected stations mainly made up of independent marketers would remain sealed until they were ready to adhere to the directives.
He said, “Our outing has been very challenging because of two issues with the marketers and even the majors. Some of the majors complained that their technicians have not arrived from their headquarters to effect the price reduction, which we considered not to be an acceptable excuse.
“Some stations that fall under that category, Oando, MRS and others have been sealed completely, and they would remain sealed until they reduce the pump price to N87 per litre as directed by the federal government of Nigeria.
“The other challenge that we have with some independent marketers is that some got stock on Saturday, calculated at the old price. And they felt we should give them time to dispose those stocks before they reduce the price. We said no! The federal government’s directive is that effective from Monday morning, all filling stations across this nation should reduce the pump price from N97 to N87.
“So if they have economic issues with stocks, they should discuss that with PPMC or with depot, which they got the fuel. We are statutory agency, we are not involved in economic matters. Ours is to implement the Federal Government’s directive and we are going round. The compliance has not been encouraging, but it is a battle we have to force them to sell at the price recommended by the federal government.”
