The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Cross River has shut down town fillings stations for selling petrol above the government approved price of N145 per litre.
Controller of DPR in Cross River, Mr Bassey Nkanga, who shut down the filling stations during surveillance on Wednesday in Calabar, said that 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 has not done so.
Speaking with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after a routine inspection, he said that the federal government was doing everything possible to end the current fuel scarcity.
NAN reports that `Uddy King’ was shut down for selling the product at N190 per litre, while Uko-Ma was sealed for selling at N205 per litre as against the approved pump price of N145.
According to him, the DPR would continue its surveillance on all petrol stations within the state to ensure that a litre of petrol is sold at N145 per litre to Nigerians.
“We have not recorded any hoarding situation in Calabar. We have heard of a few stations selling above government prices and that is why we went out to monitor the sales and make sure that they sell accordingly.
“We have received calls from the northern part of Cross River that some people are selling above the approved pump price. We are moving into that area and our presence there will end that situation’’, he assured.
The Controller, who described the illegal increased in price as `greed’, urged marketers to always comply with the government approved price.
“We have advised people against panic buying. We have told them not to store petrol in their houses.
“We have made several efforts through the media in appealing to members of the public not to panic-buy because in a few days time, the product will be available for all.
“The only assurance I have is that government is making every suitable effort to make sure that the situation is normalise’’, he said.
He further explained that his office was checking the marketers at the depot to ensure that no marketer was selling above the government price.
“We are doing intelligence report in the depot to fish out those that might be making effort to sell above what it approved.
“We have also issued warning to all the depot managers that anyone who is caught doing business with bulk buyers or diverting the product will be penalised’’, he warned.
He told NAN that due to their monitoring, his office has caught diverted product that was meant for Adamawa state, adding that he has already alerted his counterpart in Yola to take action on the matter.
He appealed to his colleagues in other states who may see diverted products meant for Cross River to always notify him for proper action. (NAN)
Leave a Reply