DPR seals 12 more stations in Benue, Lafia

Twelve more filling stations have been shut down by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in parts of Benue and Nasarawa States.

The affected filling stations were shut in Otukpo, Makurdi and Akwanga  in a two-day special mop up operation of the department, a week after about 40 were also shut in the two states for alleged sharp practices.

The DPR Operations Controller, Makurdi Field Office, Mr. Isa Abdullahi, who led the operation, said the exercise would be sustained until operators in the sector strictly abide by laid down rules.

He regretted that despite efforts by government and its agencies to ensure that fuel was sold for N87 per litre, marketers had devised new means of shortchanging unsuspecting customers.

“What they now do is that they display N87 per litre of on the digital display of their  pumping machine but in actual sense they are selling at far above that price because if you ask for one litre of fuel you will discover that you are paying more.

“Most of those we sealed up were caught perpetrating this unethical practice and innocent motorists were falling victim of the evil act, but I can assure you that we will continue to seal up any station caught until there is sanity in the system.”

Abdullahi explained that all the sealed stations would pay the necessary fine into the coffers of government before they would be unsealed, adding that the DPR would continue with its mop up exercise until normalcy returned to the sector in the two states under his jurisdiction.

Among the stations shutdown were the NNPC mega station on Akwanga-Keffi road, Nasarawa State and Achichi filling station on Otukpo-Enugu Road, Benue State.