By Michael Adesanya/Abeokuta
No fewer than 33 filing stations were sanctioned by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Ogun State from January, 2018 to date for various offences.
The DPR Operations Controller in the state, Muinat Bello-Zagi, disclosed this on Thursday during a meeting with stakeholders in the petroleum industry in Abeokuta.
The meeting had in attendance representatives of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), among others.
Bello-Zagi said the offences of the affected stations include alleged diversion, over-pricing, under-dispensing, hoarding amongst other offences.
The Controller however stated that sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, has increased significantly in the period under review.
Bello-Zagi noted that the agency was working round clock to ameliorate the sufferings being experienced by the people of the state due to unavailability of the product.
She said the department has commenced an online application for Retail Outlet Monitoring System to ensure retailers comply to government regulated standards.
“From January this year to date, the Department of Petroleum Resources in Ogun State has visited 444 filling stations. Out of that figure, 245 of them have petroleum and are selling at the official pump price of N145 per litre,” she said.
“But since last week up till now, about 75 per cent of the filling stations that we visited have PMS and were selling. We have however sanctioned about 33 stations for various offences ranging from diversion, over-pricing, under-dispensing and hoarding”, she added.
Chairman of the (IPMAN), Ogun State branch, attributed the scarcity to the sole importation of the product by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
He added that the NNPC now gives 20 per cent of imported products to major marketers other than the 30 per cent that is obtained before now.