FG Moves To Enforce Sale Of Fuel Price At N87

The Federal Government yesterday moved to enforce the regulated pump price of petrol at N87 per litre days after a biting scarcity, occasioned by the disruption of the supply system, forced price to rise as much as N500 per litre. 

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), in a statement, warned filling stations against selling above the official pump price or risk being shut down.

The DPR’s position came a day after a deal by fuel marketers and the Federal Government led to the restoration of lifting the commodity, leading to the easing of the fuel short age that worsened in the last two weeks. 

However, a former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has considered the deal between the marketers and government as a short-term solution to the frequent fuel shortage in Nigeria and called on President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently remove subsidy before he hands over to the President-elect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday.

This came as the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), an association of marketers and importers, disowned one of its members, Capital Oil and Gas Limited, for being “mischievous,” over claims that the association was on strike, an allegation, he claimed caused fuel scarcity.

The DPR, in a statement by its Head Public Affairs, Dorothy Bassey, tasked Nigerians to report any marketer who sells the product above the regulated price to its officials or law enforcement agents. 

“While the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) is making every effort to ensure that fuel is available and reaches every part of the nation, it is hereby emphasised that the Federal Government has not increased the price of fuel. “The price remains at N87. Any station caught selling above the stipulated price, will have its licence revoked.

“No station should sell in jerry cans as there is enough fuel and for safety reasons. Any station caught dispensing into jerry cans will be sealed. “We ask that the public exercise caution and cooperate with all guidelines and processes for the safety of all,” it said.