DPR Closes Two Filling Stations In Akure

Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR

The affected stations were Koleman Petroleum at Oke-Ijebu, Akure and Olusile filing station at Oba-Ile in Akure North Local Government, The Punch report.

Besides, the DPR has begun the enforcement of the new N86.50k pump price per litre in the two states.

The enforcement followed the decision of independent marketers and even some NNPC stations to sell at the old price of between N120 and N140

The DPR team led by the Acting Controller for Ondo and Ekiti, Godwin Obasuyi, in all the stations visited ensured that the marketers sold the products at ?new price of 86.50k.

Motorists and motorcyclists in Ekiti State have called on the agency to begin a crackdown on filling stations yet to comply with the new pump price of N86.50k.

They are angry that the marketers are yet to comply with the new price regime set by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) five days into the New Year.

The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mega Station on Iworoko Road on the outskirts of Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, has been selling the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, at N86 per litre from January 1, when the new price regime took effect.

Other NNPC retail stations in other parts of the town have also complied with the new price but major and independent marketers have defied the order to adjust their pumps to reflect the new price.

Major and independent marketers sell between N115 and N130 per litre to consumers.

Consumers who spoke with The Nation in Ado-Ekiti yesterday said the DPR’s intervention became necessary to call the marketers to order and save them from further exploitation.

A motorist, James Adu, wondered why marketers always drag their feet each time there was downward review of pump price of PMS but always adjust their metres immediately fuel prices go up.

He said: “That has always been their style whenever fuel price is reduced; they always claim that they are yet to exhaust the stock but that will not be the same when the price is increased.

“We want DPR to intervene here in Ekiti because we heard that erring petrol stations have been shut down in neighbouring states and their fuel dispensed to consumers free of charge. We want DPR to do same here in Ekiti.”

A motorcyclist, Femi Amusan, who described many of the marketers as “economic saboteurs”, said consumers in Ekiti are now at the mercy of owners of petrol stations.

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