ILORIN – The Department of Petroleum Resources in Kwara on Thursday threatened to impose heavy sanction on any filling stations caught to be sabotaging government’s efforts at making petroleum products available to the public.
The office also said it had started sealing some filling stations found to be operating without due compliance to the guidelines set by the department.
Mr Amos Jokodola, the Operations Controller of the department in the state, said this an interview with newsmen in Ilorin,Kwara.
He said that a filling station was sealed in the state on Tuesday for hoarding 33,000 litres of fuel for inexplicable reason.
Jokodola said the department was also mounting surveillance on other stations to avoid possible cheat and exploitation of innocent consumers of the commodity.
He said that any petrol station dispensing to the public was expected to be inclined with quantity, quality and statutory compliance and other ethical conducts prescribed by the department. He said the institution would not shirk in its responsibility of beaming eagle eye on petrol stations to ensure that the rules of engagement were adhered to.
“On Tuesday, 40 filling stations were visited, 13 had product and were operating and one was sealed for hoarding 33,000 litres.
“It is an ongoing exercise. It is part of our responsibility. This is just a weekly report. The one for previous weeks, we had many filling stations that were sealed, while we discovered also diversion.
“This is another issue that we are also looking at. So, it is an ongoing exercise. It is our routine work to visit the stations.
“As I’m speaking with you, my men are in the field, because we have Head of Department that handles monitoring.
“We will go there to monitor for quantity, quality and statutory compliance. Even if your quantity and quality levels are okay, are you licensed to operate a filling station; do you have trained manpower to man that premises and housekeeping among others.
“So, it is something that we do on regular basis. We have an internal schedule where we allow officers to go to all the 16 local government areas”, he said.
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Admitting that some petrol stations were built without recourse to due process, the DPR boss said the law establishing the department does not permit it to demolish any station without approval.
Jokodola, who also justified the proliferation of filling stations in some strategic areas in the state, said, “it depends on the parameters you employed. You need to go and do survey.
“What is the petroleum products’demand of any location, local government or neighbourhood? That also determines how many filling stations are located in any particular location.
“So, proliferation might not be the right word until and unless you have all necessary data at your disposal.
“So, the issue of proliferation needs to be properly evaluated”, he said (NAN) [eap_ad_4]
