Rivers, Bayelsa residents hail sanctions against fuel dealers

A DPR official sealing off a filling station

Motorists and members of the public in most parts of Rivers and Bayelsa states have hailed the Department of Petroleum Resources for enforcing the official prices of petroleum products and sanctioning errant filling stations.

In Rivers, the DPR in the state has sealed off about 70 filling stations selling petroleum products above government-approved prices of N87 for Premium Motor Spirit and N50 for kerosene.

The agency had, since Saturday, visited different local government areas, monitoring the activities of marketers and clamping down on operators involved in sharp practices against buyers of petroleum products.

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Motorists and other consumers told Southern City News they were happy because the DPR enforcement had made life easier for them by enforcing official prices.

Mr. Joseph Iheanyi, a resident of Eleme in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State said, “What is happening today at the filling stations is a positive change, which we want. We are very happy today because we can now buy petrol and kerosene at the approved prices.

“I thank God that DPR has shown that they are truly a regulatory agency. It is a good start from the President of this nation. He is fulfilling his campaign promises.

“I advise marketers not to buy from the depot above N77.6 as the DPR has said, so that they (marketers) do not try to sell above N87 per litre and fall into a trap. I believe the DPR is doing the right thing they are supposed to do and at the right time.”

Jubilant Okada riders

Similarly, a commercial motorcycle rider in Onne community, Eleme Local Government Area, who identified himself simply as John, said appreciated the DPR’s policing of filling stations in the area to stop marketers from selling above approved pump prices.

John as well as other okada riders in the area, who could not hold their excitement, said the DPR was on a rescue mission to salvage the situation of road users in Onne.

John said, “I am very happy that government has come to help us to buy fuel for our business at the normal price. All the filling stations in this Onne were selling fuel at N97 and above per litre.

“Till today some of the filling stations here are selling N150 per litre. You can see that all the okada riders are happy that DPR has closed all of them. I am advising all the people that have filling stations to follow the instruction from the Federal Government and help the people of this country.”

A resident of Rumuekini in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state, Mrs. Rosemary Micah, said, “I am very happy that the Federal Government has heard our complaints. The price of kerosene rose to N153 in almost all the filling stations. But as the DPR came into action now, we are buying kerosene at N50.

“I am appealing to the DPR to continue their monitoring so that the sellers will not increase the prices overnight. The moment that DPR visited and forced the stations to sell at 50 naira, we started singing and dancing.”

The Zonal Controller, DPR, Rivers State, Mrs. Onyebuchi Sibeudu, said the agency would not relent in its effort at ensuring petrol stations reverted to selling their products at the approved prices.

“We will not relent in this action until every station sticks to the official prices that have been put in place by the Federal Government. We are also taking this action to the depots.

“We have also put additional measures in place to make sure that the depots sell at the approved depot price. We have put in place a measure to indicate how much a marketer buys from the depot,” she said.

In Bayelsa, DPR sealed off filling stations in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, also for selling petroleum products above approved prices.

The filling stations sealed off for selling above the pump price or refusing to allow DPR officials access to their stations were RSK Oil, GA Oil and Gas, Mobil and South-South Oil and Gas.

At RSK Oil in Swali area of Yenagoa, it was discovered that though the meters were fixed at N87 per litre, officials found out that 10 litres purchase turned out to measure 7.75metres.

It was observed that product worth N674.25 was sold for N870.00, a difference of N195. 75 for every 10 litres of petrol bought at the station.

At the station also, it was also discovered that the filling station did not have adequate sand buckets and fire extinguishers.

At GA Oil and Gas on Ox Bow Lake Road, the DPR officials discovered that filling station shortchanged the buying public to the tune of N140. 94 for every 10 litres of fuel dispensed.

Visits to Mobil, which initially refused the officials access to its station, Watgo Petroleum and Otuayal Oil and Tamia Petroleum, revealed that the filling stations were selling at regulated price of N87.

Before the crackdown on filling stations, the DPR had read the Riot Act to petroleum marketers in the state over the sale of fuel above the approved pump price of N87 per litre.

The agency had at a meeting with petroleum marketers in the state capital, directed the marketers in the state to revert to the price regime of N87 per litre of fuel as ordered by the Federal Government.

Before the meeting, checks revealed that with the exception of the NNPC mega filling station, which sold at N87 per litre, other petrol stations had been dispensing petrol at N110 per litre since the last crisis in May between the Federal Government and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria over unpaid bills.

The agency’s Operations Controller in the state, Mr. Bassey Nkanga, said the inspection of fuel stations was part of the measures by the government to ensure that marketers did not sell above government’s controlled price.

Ikanga, who also warned against under-dispensing of the product to consumers, noted that such an act meant surcharging the public and selling above the pump price through the back door.

He told the marketers that defaulters would be thoroughly sanctioned, stressing that the punitive measures would include fines, shutting down filling stations for between six and nine months and sealing off stations.

“We are ensuring that fuel is sold at the approved pump price of N87 and this is with immediate effect. If you divert, we will charge you N200 per litre of the fuel you diverted. If you under-dispense, you will be sanctioned appropriately,” he said.

Reacting to the development, the spokesman for IPMAN in the state, Ere Peters, said members of the association would comply with the order to revert to the controlled price.