Petrol scarcity bites harder in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State on Tuesday as a litre was sold for N120.
The NNPC had in December 2015 fixed new pump prices of N86 and N86.50 per litre for its retail outlets and independent marketers respectively from January 1.
In Pankshin, only one of the 10 filling stations has fuel being dispensing at the rate.
Our Correspondent, who monitored the sale at the station was told by its attendants that only the manager could speak on the matter.
“We can’t answer you on this matter sir; only our boss, the station manager, that can answer you; presently he is not around to speak to you, ’’ one of them said.
A motorist, Mr Daniel Bako, lamented the manner independent and major marketers exploited motorists over the exercise.
“I think, DPR or the Federal Government should issue a directive to all the security agencies to help in enforcing the prices of fuel in this country.
“This is because once officials of DPR visit and leave a filling station, the operators of the stations will change the pump price to whichever price of their choice, leaving us at the receiving end, ’’ Bako lamented.
“If this directive is issued, I assure you, no filling station will dare to default because the police, the soldiers and the civil defence officers will always be there to arrest defaulters.
Another motorist, Mrs Joy Gotep, said that unless the Federal Government resorted to drastic measures against the petroleum marketers, the problem would persist.
Meanwhile, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Enugu State has attributed the current scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the South-East to inadequate supply of the product.
The Corporate Manager of the department, Mr Peter Ijeh, made the disclosure in Enugu on Tuesday.
Ijeh said that the scarcity had led to non-compliance of some major and independent marketers to the new government pump price of the product.
He said that supply in the five states of the Southeast of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo had dropped drastically against what used to be previously.
“Ebonyi State used to have supply of 25 trucks of petrol a day but that has reduced to four trucks, while Enugu which used to have the supply of 80 trucks reduced to 40 as well as three other states of the zone,’’ he said.
Ijeh said that the department was collaborating with the police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to ensure that petrol dealers complied with the government directive on new pump price.
He said that the department had started to sanction stations that hoarded the product and sold above N86.
Many filling stations have yet to adjust their pump price to the new rate.
Some of the filling stations visited sold the product at between N 130 and N150 per litre.
A station attendant at Chris Tee Oils, Mr Ekene Okpara, said that the station bought fuel from the major marketers at a high price and sold at N130 in order to break even.
Okpara alleged that some mega stations in the state also hoarded fuel, while those that sold at the new pump price closed in not less than two hours.
The station manager at Oando Filling station at Uwani, Mrs Ebere Ogazie, described the new pump price as a `welcome development’ but complained about the non-availability of the product.
Ogazie said the station would comply with the new price when it received supply.
Oando, Total, Master Energy and some NNPC mega stations are selling the product at the new rate but have long queues of prospective buyers.
