The Department of Petroleum Resources has sealed off four filling stations in Akwa Ibom State for selling premium motor spirit (PMS) above the federal government approved price of N86.50.
DPR has also fined Jobina filling station located in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital the sum of N1 million for selling petroleum product after DPR had sealed off the filling station.
Bassey Nkanga, the DPR’s Operation Controller in Charge of Akwa Ibom and Cross River States, revealed this during his surveillance of filling stations within the Uyo metropolis on Saturday.
Nkanga noted that DPR had earlier sealed the filling station for not having a valid licence.
He explained that the station had been operating for about 10 years without valid licence in the state.
According to him, the filling station would pay the sum of one Million naira for violating seal order, adding that the whole station had been sealed off.
His words: “This station is under sealed because is operating without valid licence and is not a new filling station that is just newly built.
“This is an old station that has not regularised its licence and we shut it down but coming here today, we saw them selling AGO, whereas the whole station had been sealed.”
Nkanga said that depot owners who sell petroleum products above ex-depot price would be sanctioned.
He said that if marketers would not sell their products at government regulated price, they should stop bringing products to the state.
According to him, any marketer that will sell petroleum products, especially PMS above government price will be sealed accordingly.
He said: “Any marketer that cannot sell petroleum product at stipulated rate of N86.50 should not even bring the product to the states at all.”
He said that the Federal Government was partnering Stakeholders in the downstream sector to ensure that normalcy return to the petroleum industry in no time.
