DPR Seals Fuel Station over Price Hike 

By Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

Four fuel station in Benin City, Edo State capital, were yesterday sealed by the Department of Petroleum Resources for selling petroleum products above the official approved prices.

The move according to the department came after it was discovered that most filling stations were dispensing the products at higher prices

Mr. Enelama Victor, Head of Downstream, Benin Zone, led the operation round parts of Benin City yesterday.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after the monitoring exercise, Mr. Enelama said the current hike in prices of PMS in parts of the country was largely due to the unwholesome activities of racketeers and middlemen hoarding the products so as to tarnish the image of the federal government.

Mr. Enelama stressed that the federal government had not increase the prices of the products and the distribution chain of the products by DPR was still being maintained, adding that more petroleum products were still being loaded to all the depots across the country.

He noted that the department was already tackling the menace of racketeers and middlemen merchants in the industry, including the withdrawal of licenses from marketers who engaged in product hoarding and other unwholesome practices.

The Benin zonal boss of DPR downstream also assured that government would ensure that the distribution chain of petroleum products were not altered by marketers.

He further cautioned motorists and other consumers not to panic as government had no plans of increasing the products

Though some filling stations visited in Benin were dispensing PMS at the government approved pomp price of N145 per litre, many were seen selling above the approved price.

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