Oil marketers under the aegis of the Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), have established and deployed a task force to check and sanction filling stations selling petrol, at exorbitant prices.
BizWatch Nigeria understands that this development came, as some filling stations were dispensing petrol above N300 per litre, far higher than the price approved by the Federal Government.
Reacting to the high cost of petrol, particularly outside Abuja and Lagos, the President, PETROAN, Billy Gillis-Harry said the association had deployed a task force to check the menace.
“We frown at anybody selling so much above the price of what should be adequate. If they accessed the product at a high rate, then we would not sanction them.
“But if they accessed the product from NNPCL and sell it at exorbitant rates of N220, N250, we will sanction you. It is getting very punitive. So our task force now goes around and when we get them we invoke the powers of the NMDPRA over them.
“By the time they (defaulters) go and settle all their fines, they will know that it is not worth selling at exorbitant prices with the intention to profiteer.
“That is what we are doing right now and I think Nigerians should be appreciative of PETROAN as regards this development,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva had recently ruled out the possibility of officially increasing petrol prices in the country.
He said, “The government will not approve any increase of PMS (price) secretly without due consultations with the relevant stakeholders.
“The President has not directed the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority or any agency for that matter to increase the price of fuel. This is not the time for any increase in the pump price of PMS.”
