DPR imposes N1million fine on stations selling fuel above official prices

The Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, has said that any oil marketer found manipulating the pump price of fuel would be fined N1million and the station closed for three months.

The director of Petroleum Resources of the agency, Mordecai Ladan, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, in Abuja on Friday.

“Any fuel station owner found manipulating pump price will be shut down and we will charge the marketer N1million and the station will be closed for a period of three months.

“Those who under-deliver products will be charged N100,000 per pump. So, if you have six pumps, you will be charged N600,000 and the station closed down for three months.

“If you hoard products, as the minister has directed, we will dispense the product free to the public,” he said.

According to him, there was no justification for any marketer to sell above pump price and marketers found contravening the policy would be punished accordingly.

Mr. Ladan said DPR had observed that compliance by marketers was not adequate causing it to convene the meeting of field commanders to ensure full compliance by retail outlets.

He said the meeting was a follow-up to the minister’s directive to DPR to step up its surveillance activity on retail outlets throughout the country.

“We have come together to discuss and deliberate on the strategies to use on marketers to ensure compliance on the stipulated pump price.

“We are taking measures to ensure that marketers that have been allocated products really sell at the stipulated pump price,” he said.

Commenting on the level of compliance to the directive, the Kaduna Zonal Coordinator, Usuman Ndanusa, said there was total compliance in Kaduna metropolis, while efforts were being made to cover rural areas.

“We are still in the process of going round the interiors but within Kaduna metropolis, the compliance is almost 100 per cent.

“But we still have to go to places like Brini Gwari and other places where it takes two to three hours to get to.

“There are still some areas that are not complying, we have provided our mobile numbers to the public to report such cases,” he said.

He added that the agency had suspended 13 filling stations for violating the policy in the last two weeks.

(NAN)

SOURCE: PREMIUM TIMES