Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Wednesday, sealed off two petrol stations for selling Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, commonly known as fuel, above the government approved price of N125 per litre.
This is as the Federal Government recently reduced the pump price of PMS from N145 to N125 per lime, while the Petroleum Products Price Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, a subsidiary of NNPC, had on Tuesday announced further reduction by N1.50k to N123.50 per litre.
The Bayelsa field office of DPR which sealed off the two filling stations, said while one of the sanctioned stations sold petrol at the old price of N145, the second was shut for gross under dispensing of products to unsuspecting motorists.
Operations Controller of DPR in Bayelsa, George Ene-Ita, said the agency will leave no stones unturned in enforcing the new price, which is calculated to bring relief to citizens, and has intensified surveillance patrols.
Ene-Ita assured that DPR was working to ensure the availability of products despite the lock down orchestrated by COVID19 pandemic, adding that marketers were being encouraged to maintain safety guideline.
He also disclosed that any pump sealed by DPR for under-dispensing and or selling above the approved price wouldd be sanctioned and fined with the sum of N100,000.
According to him, “We are working hard amidst the current challenges of this time of national emergency which cuts across international boundaries to ensure that petrol is available at approved pump prices.
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“Our aim is to enforce the price reduction from N145 to N125per litre, and from our findings, the rate of compliance is quite high in Bayelsa. Our attention is also on checking under-dispensing.
“We sanctioned some stations where some of their pumps under-dispensed by sealing the erring pumps and allowing the accurate pumps to dispense rather than outright shutdown to ensure product availability at this crucial time.
“In playing our regulatory role we shall not hesitate to wield the big stick by imposing appropriate sanctions on the erring pumps which is a fine of N100,000 per pump.”