curator
Administrator
The Department of Petroleum Resources ( DPR) sealed 30 filling stations in Sokoto and Kebbi States between January and November because of various offences.
The DPR’s Zonal Operations Controller in charge of Sokoto and Kebbi States, Alhaji Umar Moriki, announced this on Saturday in Sokoto at the 2013 annual petroleum products marketers' meeting.
He listed the offences to include under-delivery, selling above government-approved pump price and dilapidation of structures.
Moriki added that the affected filling stations cut across independent and major marketers.
The controller further announced that the department had uncovered 30 illegal filling stations in the two states.
"Some of them have been completed while others are still ongoing. Twenty of them are in Kebbi State while the remaining 10 are located in Sokoto State," he said.
He said, however, that: "The department is taking serious steps towards addressing this ugly trend and will reprimand any defaulting marketer."
Moriki warned the owners of petroleum stations in the two states against condoning cheating by pump attendants.
"Reports reaching us indicate that pump attendants are in the habit of surcharging the public. This trend has become rampant now. Owners of filling stations are hereby warned to call their employees to order. Otherwise, we will assume that the owners are actively involved in this malpractice," he said.
Moriki reminded the marketers that the prices of PMS (petrol) and DPK (kerosene) were regulated and that the Federal Government had fixed their prices at N97 and N50 respectively.
He warned the marketers to desist from selling the products above the government stipulated prices.
"Any station caught selling above the approved pump prices will be sanctioned appropriately," he added.
Moriki commended the Federal Government for improving the distribution of petroleum products.
"The nation now enjoys an uninterrupted supply of the products across the country," he noted.
Alhaji Sule Magaji, the Sokoto State Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), said that members of the association and the DPR were partners in progress.
Magaji hailed the Federal Government for improving fuel supply in the country.
