The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Lagos, on Wednesday, sealed Oando Filling Station in Lekki area over alleged molestation of its officials while on enforcement visit.
Mr Usman Ndanusa, the Deputy Director and Head of Downstream Division of DPR, made this known to newsmen in Lagos.
Ndanusa said that operators of the station, which belonged to Mr Basiru Fakorede, molested the DPR officials while on inspection visit to the station on December 7.
“When the monitoring team of DPR visited the station on December 7, they were not selling petrol product to motorists.
“The DPR officials then challenged the station manager and attendants why they were not selling the product, whereas there were 32,000 litres in its underground tanks then.
“At this juncture, the staff of the filling station started molesting and insulting the DPR officials.
“If we allow this to go unchecked, our officials will not be free to perform their lawful duties.
“If DPR officials are being molested by all filling stations workers in the country, then, we won’t be able to carry out our inspection duty.
“To forestall recurrence, we decided to carry out a monitor sale and seal the station after exhausting the product,” he said.
The deputy director said that his officials would be on ground to ensure that all the 58,650 litres of petroleum in the underground tanks were sold to motorists before sealing the station.
“If there is no scarcity of fuel, we won’t have sealed the station outright, but because of scarcity, we want to monitor the sales and ensure that the petrol is sold to motorists.
“So, the dealer of the station will be invited to our office to defend his action.
“If he is able to justify this action, we will unseal his station, but if not, the department may revoke his licence.
“The department has written Oando management to stop supply to the station until he is able to defend his action,” he said.
Meanwhile, Fakorede has appealed to the management of DPR to temper justice with mercy over his action.
Fakorede denied molestation of any official of DPR by his workers, adding that his men were selling the product when DPR team visited his station on Dec. 7.
He said that his men never denied the DPR officials access to his station, knowing that they have right to inspect filling stations nationwide.
“I expected the management of DPR to invite me to their office after the incidence, but I was surprised to see them coming to seal my station.
“I have been selling the product to motorists since Tuesday, because of long queue of vehicles.
“This is not the right time to seal my filling station because motorists will feel the impact.
“This is the only station that sells products 24/7. I’m sure it will really affect the motorists here,” he said.
Also, the DPR Kano Field Office has sanctioned eight filling stations in Kano for committing various offences.
The DPR Acting Operations Controller, Mr Paul Jhezi, disclosed this to Journalists, after inspection of some filling stations in Kano metropolis on Wednesday.
He said some of the affected filling stations were sealed while others were fined depending on the gravity of the offence.
“Some of the filling stations were found selling the product above the approved government price while others were caught diverting the product.
He said the Department had so far inspected no fewer than166 filling stations in the last three days as part of effort to ensure that distribution and sales at the filling stations complied with laid down regulations.
“The essence of the going round the filling stations is to ensure distribution is going on as well as selling of the product at the approved government price of N145 per litre,” he said.
He said the officers of the agency would continue to monitor the activities of the filling stations with a view to ensuring that they are selling the product to members of the public.
He warned that any marketer or filling station found diverting or selling above the approved price, would be sanctioned.
He, however, commended the NNPC depot Kano for increasing the number of trucks being supplied to Kano which he said had assisted greatly in checking the scarcity.
“The long queues of vehicles have since disappeared from the filling stations due to the increase in the number of trucks being given to Kano.
“We used to have between 20 trucks and 24 trucks daily but now, NNPC has increased it to between 39 trucks and 44 trucks daily, “Jhezi said.
A cross-section of motorists, who spoke to newsmen at the filling stations visited, expressed appreciation over the improvement of supply to filling stations in the state.
They, however, called on DPR to extend the visits to filling stations outside the metropolis in order to ensure total compliance of the sales of the commodity.
Some of the filling stations visited include Ondo, AYM Shafa at Club Road, MRS , ConOil at Tarauni and AA Rano filling station along Audu Boko Way.
