DPR seals two filling stations in Jos for petrol diversion

The Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, on Tuesday sealed two filling stations in Jos, Plateau State, for diversion of products.

The Head, Retails, Outlets and Marketing of the department of DPR, Shehu Yusuf, said this in Jos.

He said the two stations were NIPCO at Bauchi Ring Road and E. O. Eze and Brothers in Rukuba.

Mr. Yusuf said that the premises were sealed as deterrent to other marketers indulging in the act, and to save motorists the agony of sourcing for petrol.

Mr. Yusuf said that 19 articulated vehicles loaded with petrol were dispatched to Plateau on Tuesday.

Of these, he said, six trucks were for Bauchi and Nasarawa States, while the rest were to discharge in Plateau.

He said that the current situation would be ameliorated by steady supply of the product to the state.

According to him, five of the trucks are allocated to the NNPC mega station and its affiliate stations in Jos.

Mr. Yusuf said that the department was working hard to ensure that the fuel supply situation was normalised in the state.

The petrol scarcity which started two weeks ago in Jos had yet to ease.

This has led to queues at the NNPC mega station along the Murtala Mohammed Road in Jos which often caused traffic gridlock on the highway.

Some stations own by the Independent Marketers were yet to sell the product while others sold at black-market price of between N120 and N130 per litre.

Meanwhile, hawkers, popularly called black marketers, are recording a boom in business following the scarcity.

One of them, Useni Abdullahi, who trades beside the NNPC mega station on Murtala Mohammed Way, said that he was making brisk business selling to motorists.

He said that he was selling a litre at N120 and had made so much money since he started the sale in the morning.

Mr. Abdullahi attributed the boom to the frustration people met while queuing to buy the product at the official price of N97 per liter at the NNPC.

He said that he sourced his product from the NNPC mega station and also at some stations along Bauchi Road.

Another hawker in Rayfield, Desmond Iliya, said that he was selling at N130 per litre, adding that he was making easy profit because Rayfield was the residence of most of the elites in the state.

(NAN)