The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has vowed to sanction marketers hoarding petroleum products and those selling above the approved pump price.
The Authority made this vow, during an inspection and enforcement tour of major marketers filling station in Kano State, which uncovered many marketers selling Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) above the approved pump price of 185 naira per liter.
The state coordinator of the NMDPRA Mallam Aliyu Samani who led the inspection team revealed that kano state alone had received about 641 trucks of PMS from December 2nd to December 19th hence there was no need for scarcity to persist in the state. He therefore ordered the immediate reopening and dispensation of PMS hoarded in some filling station. He said:
” We discovered that some have decided to hoard the product instead of selling to the public while those claiming to sell with long queues are doing so above the regulated price. You can see for yourself how many major marketers shut down their facilities with a substantial quantity of products in their tanks”.
He added: “It is unfortunate that the major marketers are not encouraging competition between them and the independent marketers. As you can see, we have gone round and we have discovered that most of these major marketers have the commodity but they are not selling and those that are selling were selling above the approved pump price”.
During the inspection tour, conoil a major petroleum marketer was sealed off as they were caught selling PMS at 305 naira per liter.
“………..we will definitely take disciplinary measures against any erring filling stations,” he said.
