CEM REPORT | The Federal Government has said it is ready to sanction fuel stations and depots selling Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), above the subsidized pump price.
This is according to the Authority Chief Executive, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, during a joint inspection on fuel stations in Abuja.
Ahmed said the pump price of PMS was still N165 per litre and remained sacrosanct.
He added that the inspection was to enforce the warning given to the oil marketing companies, particularly those selling over the official price of N148.
Furthermore, he said, Depots and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN) and Major Oil Marketers of Nigeria (MOMAN), have been warned against over price at the depot, adding that there were series of actions it could take against defaulters.
The actions he said includes, withdrawal of service from a particular depot, shutting and sanctioning them.
“We are actually trying to monitor the dispensing to ensure that all the stations with petrol are dispensing all their trucks to reduce the long queues and ensure efficiency in service.
“We are monitoring the depot sales also, checking the number of truck that loaded; this is a serious fact which we look at.
“There has been a lot of improvement in the distribution of PMS, we have gone round the Airport road and saw a lot of stations selling and discharging fuel.
“The queues are not long like before and the average trucks we have received in Abuja in the last three days are about 140 trucks against 70 trucks to 80 trucks received before; so there is a lot of improvement.” NAN reports.
[READ ALSO] UPDATE: Fuel Price Remains N165/ltr, Marketers to Comply, says Govt.
On black marketers, he said it was engaging with key oil marketers and had advised them to warn their station managers to stop selling to Jerrican peddlers because it was one of the causes of the problems.
“Once they do not comply, we are going to shut and deal with that particular station affected,’’
On the issue of transporters running at a loss, Ahmed said the increase in freight rate of transporters by N10 from N10.46 to N20.46 by the President will ensure they could still transport the product across the nation without loss of revenue which they were complaining about.
“Credit also goes to transporters because now they are reacting to the President’s offer of additional N10 as an incentive on their transportation charges. At least we are seeing the improvement,’’
The exercise was carried out in collaboration with some top officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Petroleum Pipeline and Marketing Company (PPMC) and the NMDPRA.
NNPC on their part assured adequate supply of fuel across the country, according to the Group Executive Director, Downstream, NNPC Ltd, Adeyemi Adetunji.
“Today we have 1.9 billion litres of PMS; Lagos is cleared in a couple of days; we will clear the queues in Abuja,’’
