Fuel Scarcity Bites Minna

Petrol Black marketers have resurfaced in Minna metropolis and its environs barely three days after the Department of Petroleum Products Resources (DPR) closed down some filling stations for ‘cheating’.

Many filling stations have closed shops for fear of the officials of the DPR, who have so far sealed off six filling stations in Minna for not only selling petroleum products above the Federal Government’s approved price but under-dispensing the products to unsuspecting customers.

Long queues are also visible in some of the few filling stations seen dispensing fuel to customers when our correspondent visited to ascertain their level of compliance to the Federal Government’s directives regulating the sale of petroleum products.

Plastics cans atop wooden tables have also resurfaced along some strategic areas in Minna metropolis and its environs as the dealers besiege the few filling stations that have scaled through the DPR scrutiny for supply of especially fuel which they resell to unsuspecting public at exorbitant cost.

Meanwhile, the DPR Controller in Niger State, Abdullahi Jankara, has reiterated the commitments of his office to ensure that all petroleum products dealers in the state comply with the new order or face the wrath of the law.

Jankara had informed journalists after supervising the sealing off of some filling stations belonging to independent marketers in Minna metropolis for violating the regulated price that it would no longer be business as usual, exploiting Nigerians for their greed to maximize profit.

Independent oil marketers who are not ready to follow the new order better comply, Jankara said, insisting that ‘either they comply or quit the business if they feel they are not making as much money as they desired’.

Many of them are out to maximize profit at the expense of poor Nigerians. “Some filling stations in Minna are not selling petroleum products at the government approved price while some who claimed to be selling at the approved price also adjusted their pumps and this must stop.

“We will not allow them to continue to do things in the old way in the distribution of petroleum products. All the independent marketers in Niger state do what they like and we will not allow that. If you are not ready to sell in line with the new order then you quit and go into another business. The era of illegality and impunity is gone”.

The federal government is making efforts to effect changes in the system and to make petroleum products accessible and affordable to Nigerians in the state and the DPR would comb all the nooks and crannies to ensure that all filling stations comply with the directives to sell all petroleum products at government approved price, Jankara pointed out.