DPR sells petrol free in Ogun, seals off 2 stations in Cross River

The surveillance team of the DPR, Abeokuta field office, on Thursday, dispensed petrol for free to motorists in Ogun State just as the department sealed off two filling stations in Cross River State for selling petrol above the government approved price of N145 per litre.

The DPR in Ogun State, led by the Head of Operations, Mr Kasali Akinade, said its action became necessary following information that a station, Daslap Petrol Station, at Olomore area of Abeokuta, was selling petrol above N145 per litre.

“We got a tip-off that the station had fuel and selling at N200 per litre which is above the official pump price. On getting there, we also had evidences to support the claims.

“When we checked the fuel stock level, we discovered it had 33,000 litres. In order to serve as a deterrent to others, we decided to sell the fuel for free. We said they should sell fuel to 20 vehicles and 30 bikes for free.”

Mr Akinade, however, accused some security agents of sharp practices, thereby making the DPR’s work difficult.

“Most of the law-enforcement agents are not really helping matters. Some of them collect jerry cans, smuggle in vehicles while we are trying to arrange and create sanity within the filling stations,” he said.

While making an assessment of the fuel scarcity in Ogun State, Mr Akinade described the scarcity as ‘artificial’ noting that most of the stations have fuel, but were either hoarding or selling above pump price.

Also in Cross River State, the DPR shut two petrol stations for selling above the government approved price of N145 per litre.

Controller of DPR in the state, Mr Bassey Nkanga, who shut the stations during surveillance on Thursday, in Calabar, said the stations were violating the government directives.

Nkanga said that it was wrong for oil marketers to increase the pump price when the Federal Government had not done so.

Speaking after a routine inspection, he said that the Federal Government was doing everything possible to end the current fuel scarcity.

Meanwhile, the director of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr Mordecai Ladan, has assured Nigerians that the lingering scarcity of petrol will soon come to an end.

Ladan gave the assurance on Thursday during an inspection exercise of some private depots within Apapa axis in Lagos State.

According to him, “I can confirm to you that products are coming in gradually in most of the depots visited. Some are being discharged while there is assurance that more products will soon come again within the next 48 hours.

“I think with all we have seen now in the depots visited, petrol should be available in all filling stations across the country in a few days. It will soon ease out in days to come.”

Ladan appealed to depots to focus more supply on independent marketers’ filling stations because they were most affected by the scarcity.

He said the independent marketers had filling stations in the most major location in the country and most of them had not received the supply for weeks.

The DPR inspection team visited Folawiyo Energy Limited and NIPCO Tank Farm in Apapa.

At Folawiyo, Mr Dipo Makanjola said the depot had about six million litres of petrol and has been operating 24 hours to ensure that Nigerians get the product.

Makanjola said the product belonged to NNPC and they were loading the product according to the directive of the corporation.

 

NNPC, DPR dispense 57,000 litres free to motorists in Abuja

A team of officials from DPR, NNPC and security agents, on Thursday, dispensed 57,000 litres of petrol free to motorists in Abuja.

Mr Umar Ajiya, the Managing Director, Nigerian Product Marketing Company (NPMC), also known as PPMC, had on December 13, warned illegal profiteers to desist or face losing their products.

NAN reported that the team, which was on its fifth day of monitoring, got more information from anonymous Nigerians and made good  its promise to give out petrol free from any filling station that sold above the N145 approved cap.

The first station visited by the team on Thursday was Mcmanakai Global Services in Bassa, a village in Abuja airport, which had 39,000 litres of petrol, while the staff of the second station absconded when they learnt of the presence of the team.

The team also visited a third petrol station also in Bassa, FCT, where it sealed Enesi Petroleum because the facility was allegedly selling a mixture of petrol and kerosene to unsuspecting motorists.

Another unnamed filling station in Soka, FCT, which was selling at N240, had 18,000 litres of petrol that was dispensed free to motorists on queue.

At Mcmanakai Petrol Station, the NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru, told newsmen that “DPR and civil defence identified this station on Wednesday as an illegal, unregistered station.

“The station has products and is selling above the N145 cap. DPR stopped the managers from selling at that rate on Wednesday but the handlers resumed selling at N245 today (Thursday).

“So, the same punishment we meted out to other stations would be done here and elsewhere found to be doing same,” he said.

 

3 stations sanctioned in Kaduna for hoarding 17,700 litres of petrol

The combined efforts of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) and the DPR, Kaduna zonal office, have led to sanctioning three petrol stations in Zaria for hoarding 17,700 litres of petrol.

The two NNPC agencies, acting on a tip-off, arrived the premises of the stations on Thursday afternoon and discovered that they had PMS but were not dispensing.

Head of DPR in the state, Isa Tafida, disclosed that the affected petrol stations were Mamu Oil, Fasada Petroleum and Farmskan Petroleum all located in Zaria and Sabon Garin local government areas of the state.

Tafida said that the combined team of KRPC, DPR as well as civil defence discovered 3,800 litres of PMS at Mamu Oil, 4,500 litres at Fasada Petroleum and 9,400 litres at Farmskan Petroleum.

 

No petrol in Ekiti, as black market sells for N300

Despite Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State’s release of 80 per cent of the 60,000 litres of petrol in the government house dump to the public, the commodity still sells for between N200 and N250 in parts of the state.

Residents of Ado Ekiti expressed worry over their inability to get the product.

In most of the petrol stations in the state, the commodity cannot be found while the pressure at the Alade Filling Station, where Fayose’s fuel was dumped, was so much that many have to find alternative means of getting the product.

On Monday, petrol could hardly be found in any petrol station while the product sold for about N300 per litre in the black market.

 

Illegal lubricant factory uncovered in Zamfara

The DPR has uncovered illegal engine oil manufacturing factory in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital.

The controller in charge of Gusau DPR field office, Malam Ango Haruna, made the disclosure in Gusau, on Thursday, after a routine inspection and monitoring exercise of the department.

Haruna told newsmen that the factory, IBCON Global Resources Nigeria Limited, is located at Janyau area of Gusau.

The DPR official said the company was operating illegally over the years.

He added that the department had earlier received petitions on illegal operations of some lubricant producers in the state by the Lubricant Producers Association of Nigeria (LUPAN).

He noted that “this factory remains sanctioned until the company complies with DPR lubricant factories operating guidelines.”