New petrol pump price: DPR seals 2 fuel stations in Bayelsa
DPR
By Nathan Nwakamma
Yenagoa, April 1, 2020 (NAN) The Bayelsa field office of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), on Wednesday, sealed two fuel stations for dispensing petrol above the new pump price of N125 per litre.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Federal Government had, on March 18, announced the reduction of the pump price of petrol from N145 to N125 per litre, to reflect the fall in crude oil prices.
NAN also reports that the pump price was, on Tuesday night, further reduced by 1.50k per litre, making the new price to be N123.50 per litre.
The DPR officials in the state, however, said that they had yet to receive directive on the latest review.
Speaking with newsmen after the surveillance exercise, Mr George Ene-Ita, the Operations Controller of DPR, said that while one of the sanctioned stations sold petrol at the old price of N145, the second was shut for grossly under dispensing.
Ene-Ita said that DPR was poised to enforcing the new price of petrol by the Federal Government, which, he said, was aimed at bringing relief to Nigerians, adding that it had intensified surveillance patrols.
He said that the agency was working to ensure the availability of the product despite the lockdown, occasioned by the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, stressing that marketers were being encouraged to maintain safety guidelines.
“We are working hard amidst the current challenges of this time of national emergency, which cuts across international boundaries, to ensure that petrol was available at approved pump prices.
“Our aim is to enforce the price reduction from N145 to N125 per 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 roles, we shall not hesitate to wield the big stick by imposing appropriate sanctions on any erring pump, which is a fine of N100,000 per pump,” Ene-Ita said. (NAN)
NN/FF/WAS
Edited by Fela Fashoro and ‘Wale Sadeeq