Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Jos Field Office which
discovered over 27, 000 litres of petrol hoarded by independent
Marketers at a fuel station in Mangu local government area of Plateau
State and ordered its sale at regulated price to the public has also
sealed nine fuel stations in Jos South, Mangu and Qua’an Pan local
government areas of the State for operating illegally.
The Department while on a monitoring exercise led by its Head,
Downstream, Monitoring and Regulations, Ahmadu Fagge sealed the fuel
stations saying they were illegally constructed in residential and other
unsuitable locations and asked their owners to obtain clearance from
relevant government agencies.
While ordering the Manager of Echemas Nigeria Ltd, Manasseh Vongden
where 27,000 litres of petrol were hoarded to commence sale to
motorists, Fagge put telephone calls to Managers of Stations where the
product were supplied but refused to sell to immediately open their
stations or be booked for hoarding which they all complied. He appealed
to Marketers to desist from act of sabotage as such would not bring the
needed economic growth. His words, “We had to seal two illegally
operated stations in Jos South one in Mangu and six at Namu, Qua’an Pan
local government areas because they are not in our register, they are
operating illegally in residential areas thereby posing great risk to
the surrounding buildings. They need to get approval from relevant
government agencies. “As we monitor, we discovered that stations that
have the product did not dispense so we had to compel them to sell at
regulated price to the public. They should stop this act of sabotage
because it is bringing untold hardship to the people.” However,
residents of the affected areas including Philip Yusuf and Elisha Dapul
expressed joy at the exercise as Yusuf said, “It has brought relief to
the people, we have been buying petrol between N195 and N200 and above
since December last year but with this, we now buy at regulated price.”
Dapul added, “We have been suffering because instead of them selling to
us, they hoard the product and sell to black market people. This is
welcome development that should be sustained.”