The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Akwa Ibom State, on Tuesday, said four filling stations had been sealed for diversion of 33,000 litres of fuel meant for Enugu to the state.
Mr Bassey Nkanga, the DPR’s Operation Controller in Charge of Akwa Ibom and Cross River, said this on the sidelines of a surveillance exercise within Uyo metropolis.
According to Nkanga, the product meant for Enugu was found in Uyo.
“This truck with registration number MHA 416 XA loaded with fuel from the depot in Port Harcourt is supposed to take this product to PPMC Depot in Enugu.
“What we are going to do now is to tell the Operations Controller in Enugu that this truck loaded product yesterday and was supposed to discharge it in Enugu and was caught in Uyo,’’ he said.
Nkanga said the department would dispense the product at government approved pump price of N86.50 per litre.
“We will wait for them to discharge the product and take the dip and lock up the place; when we are ready to sell, we will sell it to the public at government official price,’’ he said.
Nkanga said that the Operation Controller in Enugu would sanction the marketer for diversion of the product, adding that the marketer would be fined N200 per litre of the fuel diverted.
“We are sending the way bill to Operation Controller Enugu to sanction the marketer accordingly,’’ Nkanga said.
He warned the NNPC filling station in Uyo over under dispensing of fuel to vehicles using faulty pump.
Nkanga said that the department had written several letters to the manager of the filling station to correct the pump, adding that he failed to respond to the letters.
“We have written several letters to the management of this filling station but to no avail,’’ he said.
But reacting to the diversion allegation, the Manager of Tarmarks Petroleum, who to disclose his name, said that he bought the product at the spot market.
He, however, said that government had not given him his allocation in the last one year.
