Abuja – The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) says it has initiated measures to tackle illegal sale of petroleum products above the stipulated prices by some depot owners and major markers in Nigeria.
This is contained in a statement by the Director of DPR, Mr Mordecai Ladan, in Abuja on Thursday.
It said investigations by DPR revealed that hike in retail prices of Premium Motor Sprit (PMS) and Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) was due to dishonest activities of some depot owners and major marketers.
It said some of the depot owners and major marketers engaged in selling PMS and DPK to retailers at prices higher than the official depot price of N77.66k and N34.51K respectively.
The DPR had resolved to take immediate steps to directly supervise the sale of PMS and DPK from the affected depots to ensure that appropriate pricing was strictly adhered to, it said.
According to the statement, this is to check the unprincipled activities of the depot owners and major marketers, to prevent further imposition of hardship on the public.
It said the process would involve the immediate suspension of direct sales of PMS and DPK from the affected depot owners and major marketers.
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Other measure to be taken is the immediate setting up of a special DPR task force to supervise and monitor the sale of products from the affected depots.
According to the statement, the task force will liaise with the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the law enforcement agencies.
The statement called on all stakeholders in the sector to abide by the official pricing regime to avoid DPR’s sanctions.
It said the sanctions might include the activation of all conditions leading to the denial of any marketer from further participation in the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) scheme.
The statement stated that the sanction would also entail the withdrawal of licences of a facility from the defaulters. (NAN)
