DPR arrests seven, shuts nine filling stations in Enugu, Gombe 

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has arrested seven operators and sealed off three filling stations in Enugu as part of efforts to enforce compliance with selling of petrol at the official rate of N145 per litre.

Led by the Head, Health, Safety and Environment Department, Unyime Akpan, the team said the stations were sealed for hoarding of fuel and selling above the official pump price, adding that the arrests were made on operators who tried to prevent the officials from discharging their duties.

Akpan gave the names of the three sealed fuel stations sealed as Pipeline West Africa on Abakpa Nike road; Raino Oil & Gas along Enugu-Onitsha Expressway and NACO Fuel Station on Presidential Road, Independence Layout.

Meanwhile, some of the marketers who spoke to The Guardian said they could not sell at N145 because they bought the product at a higher rate.

Also yesterday, the Gombe State Field Office of the department shut six filling stations for selling above the official pump price and engaging in product diversion.

The DPR Operations Controller in the state, Abdullahi Abawa, told newsmen in Gombe that one of the affected facilities, Tukur Dahiru Mohammed Nigeria Limited in Billiri, was closed for diverting 26,000 litres of petrol and selling the product at N210.

According to him, Mubbis General Merchant in Akko Council Area of the state was sanctioned for also selling a litre of petrol at N210. The marketer was summoned to the agency’s office.

At the AYM filling station located in Yarima quarters of the state capital, the DPR officials forced the marketer to readjust his pump price from N210 to the N145 official rate.

The officials further directed the manager of the other filling station to sell the entire product in storage to the public before sealing the facility.

Abawa said the department had embarked on the operation to regulate the activities of marketers in order to mitigate the hardship faced by commuters owing to the scarcity.

The DPR chief blamed marketers for the scarcity, saying their shady deals aren’t helping matter.