10th May, 2016
The Department of Petroleum Resources( DPR) in Ondo State, is to sanction any filling station found diverting and hoarding petrol in the state.
The DPR Operations Controller in Ondo State, Mr Adewale Oseni, stated this while speaking with NAN on Tuesday in Akure.
Oseni said that DPR had put machinery in place to ensure that any product coming to the state was not diverted or hoarded by retail outlets.
He decried the high level of diversion and hoarding of petroleum products by some retail outlets in the state, saying this had caused untold hardship on residents.
According to him, any erring will be sealed for as long as 90 days in addition to paying a fine.
“We have started means of disseminating information to members of the public on those stations that have fuel on daily basis so that people can also give us feedback until normalcy returns.
“People will tell us if those stations are selling or not and if they are selling above pump price or not.
“This will help control diversion and hoarding because DPR has announced it on air already.
“We are engaging the public to feed us back appropriately because we cannot be everywhere every time.
“With the feedback we have put in place, we can get good information and when that is done, we go there and force them to sell at official price,” he stated.
Oseni said that DPR was collaborating with men of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to monitor the sale of the product at government approved prices.
The DRP operation controller admonished all filling stations to adhere strictly to the DPR rules for a better society.
“They should get their product from the right channels and stop giving excuses of high cost of loading and others.
“Our focus and aim is to ensure that there is increase in supply of the product as well as ensure that people get it at government approved price,” he stated.