26,300 Filling Stations Risk Denial of Licences Renewal by DPR

Peter Uzoho

No fewer than 26,300 filling stations across Nigeria are risking their chances of having their licences renewed by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) if they fail to migrate to the digital tracker put in place by the agency before December 31, 2021.

This is just as the DPR again met with the leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA) and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) to collectively find ways to combat smuggling and other corrupt practices associated with the importation and distribution of refined petroleum products in the country.

Speaking yesterday at the stakeholders’ engagement meeting involving heads of the agencies, which was held at the National Oil and Gas Excellent Centre (NOGEC) in Lagos, the Director of DPR, Mr. Sarki Auwalu, said out of the existing 33,000 filling stations registered with the DPR, only 6,700 had migrated to its digital products tracker, the Downstream Remote Monitoring System (DRMS).

He said those who were yet to migrate to the platform (the 26,300), had been given between now and December 31 this year to migrate or face denial of licence renewal by the agency.

DRMS also known as e-Station is an inventory and regulatory tool launched in February this year by the DPR for the purpose of tracking product level across retail outlets and depots as well as movement of products from depots to retail outlets using a USSD code *7117#.

According to him, “We want every market to migrate to this platform. Before, our staff used to bring the report, but now you (marketer) will report yourself. You will just dial and report yourself, and we see you real-time. There is no enemy hiding anywhere.

“So, the marketers, out of 33,000, about 6,700 are already registered. We want all the registered filling stations to migrate. So, 6,700 are activated on this, the balance of 26,300 needs to be activated on or before December 31.

“Any marketer that fails to migrate to this platform, his licence will not be renewed. Licence renewal is done every two years.”

He added that each of the registered petroleum products outlets has a unique identification number (ID), noting that the agency has full details of the fillings stations, including the local government and the street located, and can view them to know what is going on there.

On the situation with the refinery revolution programme of the federal government, the director said at the moment and as can be verified on the DPR portal, there were about eight target refineries.

Auwalu said eight modular refineries were on board, including two that are already operational, two that are about to start and four that are at the Approval to Construct (ATC) stage and are currently constructing.

According to him, “And we have major refineries-the Dangote, BUA, even, there is another 100,000 barrels coming soon.”

In his remarks, the Chairman of EFCC, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, represented by the agency’s Director of Operations, Mr. Abdulkarim Chukkol, said EFCC was going to engage with other stakeholders to understand themselves and jointly tackle the issues facing the country’s economy.

Meanwhile, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, who was represented at the meeting by the Managing Director of Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Mr. Musa Lawal, said the meeting was necessary as petroleum products get smuggled across the country’s borders, and as a result of that, Nigeria was feeding its neighbouring countries and causing a deep hole in its pulse.

Kyari said: “It was in our last meeting that the director of DPR made an excellent presentation of this capacity (the digital products tracker). As a result of that, the chairman of EFCC insisted that we collaborate in coming here to actually observe this capacity that would be demonstrated by DPR. We are happy to be here.”