Nigerian Govt To Shut Down Filling Stations Selling Fuel At N1,000/Litre

The Federal Government has vowed to shut down filling stations that are caught dispensing PMS at exorbitant rates.

This comes as Nigerians have raised concerns about the high cost of the commodity by independent petrol dealers.

The government declared this through the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, stressing that it was not in the interest of Nigerians for marketers to profiteer in the sales of PMS.

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Independent oil marketers claimed that they’ve been buying petrol from private depot owners for as high as N850/litre since last week and that this was why the pump prices were high.

However, the spokesperson of the NMDPRA, George Ene-Ita, argued that the petrol price reports that the regulator gets from its officials at the depots were different.

“Our depot people see a different price because we ask them to publish the prices at the depots every day and it is not N850/litre. Our field agents at the depots give us a different figure,” he said.

When told that some filling stations operated by independent marketers in Lagos and many other states dispense their products for as high as N900 and N1,000/litre, the NMDPRA official said such outlets would be brought to book if apprehended.

“If we get these outlets, all we do is to try and shut them down, because NNPC is the company that brings in the product and they tell us how much they sell as their ex-depot prices to off-takers. And we sit down together and work out the margins and there is no way it should be that high,” Ene-Ita declared.