The Nation Newspaper

Tag: DPR

  • DPR threatens to shut erring gas stations

    DPR threatens to shut erring gas stations

    Gas stations that fail to adhere to regulations guiding the oil and gas industry will be sanctioned, the Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has said.

    DPR’s Zonal Director, Alh. Aliyu Alidu said it was imperative to remind marketers of petroleum produce to ensure compliance with guidelines and standards. He spoke during a briefing yesterday ahead of a media visit to selected fuel filling stations in Abuja.

    He said the inspection became necessary to ensure that members of the public are not exploited, and that appropriate cooking gas is being sold to the people.

    “There are deliberate attempts by the marketers to adjust the fuel pumps. We remind them of some of our regulations so that they can operate within the framework,” he said, adding, “we want to make sure the right quantity is being dispensed to the consumers and that the cooking gas is of best quality and best measure.”

    The inspectors visited Mobil Petrol Filling Station, Obafemi Awolowo way, Utako, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation NNPC Mega Station, Olusegun Obasanjo Way, CBD, Gas Dealers Market, GSM village, Zone 1 and Yamoyus Petrol Station.

    However, there was pandemonium at the NNPC Mega Station. Officials of the station were accused of being partial and disposing kerosene to marketers at higher rate. The Nation gathered that 25 litres of Kerosene was sold for N3, 000, instead of the N1, 500 regulated price.

    A client who was furious at the officials, explained that the officials preferred to patronise marketers because of the cost advantage. He said there are days assigned to security operatives to purchase the produce, while others are also asked to patronise the station on Wednesdays.

    But, the security officials were denied the product while marketers were duely served kerosene.

    DPR Ag. Head, Downstream, Borogun Michael, who observed the entire process, called for orderliness, saying that DPR staff would be deployed to the mega station to monitor customer attendance and ensure their operations are in accordance with the department’s regulations.

  • Oil Installations safety: DPR seeks to partner NSCDC

    Oil Installations safety: DPR seeks to partner NSCDC

    • Decries revenue losses

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has sought the assistance of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to help secure its vital assets and reduce revenue losses to the nation.

    The Director of DPR, Mr. George Osahon with his management team made the call for the partnership during a courtesy visit on the state Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Lagos State Command, Commandant Adesuyi Clement Dayo at their Ikeja Command.

    The DPR boss lamented the loss of revenue by the Federal Government through oil theft stressing the importance for relevant authorities to work in partnership towards ensuring that this criminality is stopped.

    He requested for partnership between DPR and NSCDC in the area of enforcement towards ensuring that the law takes its right course on the perpetrators of the crime.

    In response, the NSCDC boss said the partnership was a welcome development and promised to work together with the organization. He used the opportunity to throw more light on the NSCDC statutory functions and activities of the corps so far within the state. He said the corps members have tried their best towards monitoring and protection of oil installations in the country, but frown at recent sabotage being experienced by the corps from some unpatriotic members of the public.

    He used the same forum to ask for assistance from DPR and other relevant bodies in the area of logistics. This he believes will go a long way in assisting the corps towards monitoring of oil installations and other critical infrastructures within the state.

     

  • ‘DPR’ll not revoke licences of idle oil blocks’

    ‘DPR’ll not revoke licences of idle oil blocks’

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), has said it would not revoke the licences of undeveloped oil blocks contrary to its earlier stand on idle acreages.

    DPR Director, George Osahon, who spoke yesterday at a one-day forum on the 2005-2007 licensing round held in Lagos, said security issues might be the cause for the companies’ inability to put the fields into production.

    He said DPR awarded 77 oil acreages to several companies between 2005 and 2007, but lamented that only one of the blocks is currently producing, while less than 30 per cent of oil blocks awarded within that period are actively being worked on.

    He explained that the non-performance of the blocks is due to insecurity in the Niger Delta, lack of adequate funds, technical challenges and data availability, adding that several production sharing contract (PSC) acreages, and bank guarantees were yet to be put in place as a result of the problems.

    He said the preoccupation of the DPR is how to activate the dormant acreages to enable the country meet its aspiration of four million barrel per day production and 40 billion reserves.

    He urged firms with dormant blocks to update the DPR with their challenges so as to find ways of reactivating the blocks.

    Osahon, called for synergy between prospective investors and financial institutions to enable growth in the nation’s oil and gas industry.

  • DPR’s half-year revenue hits N470b, say Reps

    DPR’s half-year revenue hits N470b, say Reps

    The Department of Petroleum Resources(DPR) raked in N470 billion revenue in the first six months of the year, the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) has said.

    The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Muraina Ajibola, who stated this during the committee’s oversight visit to DPR in Lagos, yesterday, said the figure exceeded the target given the agency.

    He said the revenue target given DPR for the period was N383.754billion, while the agency exceeded its revenue target by over N86billion within the period.

    “I am happy to tell Nigerians that after our proper scrutiny of their papers, we discovered that DPR has generated a total sum of over N470 billion. Of course, clearly they (the agency) have exceeded their target by a total sum of N86 billion.

    “Except for the capital implementation of budget 2013, where the performance appears a bit low, but in totality, the agency is doing well towards revenue generation,” he added.

    Ajibola said the Committee and DPR discussed issues on Internal Revenue Generation to aid the agency in its operations, which he explained, is always on the increase, adding that the DPR has agreed to articulate its responsibilities and requested for ways to assist it in passing a bill to allow the agency generate revenue internally.

    He urged the Federal Government to implement the recommendations and resolution of the Committees set up by the House to address crude oil theft in the country. He said the committee has asked the government to assign dedicated telephone lines to DPR and make it public to curb issues of pipeline vandalism and oil theft. The lines should be recorded with the security agencies, he said.

    Ajibola also advised that all export terminals be manned by security personnel to identify oil thieves, adding that government should also introduce scientific mechanical readers to monitor the pipelines.

    He said “We advised the Federal Government to allow the host communities to assist in informing relevant authorities on oil theft and pipelines vandalism in the country.”

    In his remarks, the Director, DPR, George Osahon, expressed appreciation for the visit of the committee and its promise to assist the agency. “I am particularly grateful to the Committee on their observation towards allowing the agency to internally generate revenue to support its operations.

    “We are constrained due to the limited sources of fund that we have, which affects our operational system. We will appreciate the Committee in assisting the Department in addressing salient issues affecting it.”

    Osahon urged the agency to address crude oil theft in the country, saying the Committee is in a better position to assist the Department in achieving its objective of effective regulation.

     

  • Next marginal fields’ bid round coming, says DPR

    Next marginal fields’ bid round coming, says DPR

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) is working on the next bid round for marginal fields, the Director, Osten Olorunsola, has said.

    He said if the bid rounds hold next year, it would be 10 years since the last one held, adding that the DPR was working on the process.

    He explained that the licence holders of the assets that would produce the marginal fields, must renew their licences and relinquish such assets as marginal. Among the things the Department is looking at, is that most of the fields that probably will come out in the next round are in assets that we are still trying to renew for the licence holders. If they don’t renew the licences, there is no point going ahead with fields people don’t even have titles to, he said.

    He said: “Some of those fields are within leases that are going through renewal right now. You need to renew the leases first before you give out the fields within the leases to other people as marginal fields. That’s what we are doing basically. The leases have expired. We have to do one thing first.

    “Some of the lease holders have applied for renewal and the government is going through the process of renewing them,” he said, explaining that it is only the President that has the statutory right to declare a field as marginal.”

    Besides, he said despite the challenges winners of the 2004 bid round went through; the marginal fields’ owners are doing marvelously well. He said:”They are already in the right direction. If you go to some of the marginal fields, you will be shocked by what you see.

    “What some of them have put on ground, will rival any international company in the world. I have been there myself. I am not talking of pictures.

    He said some marginal fields were recently brought on stream, while others will come on stream soon.

    “If you look at the marginal fields specifically, nine out of 24 are already producing today. Another four, or five will soon start to produce. Some of the marginal fields that would came on stream, include Sogenal, while Frontier has just come on stream. They are producing, and they are all doing pretty well,” he said.

    He said production from marginal fields is low, noting that marginal fields are doing only 50,000 barrels daily out of 2.5 million barrels produced daily.

  • PIB debate‘ll produce robust Act, says DPR

    •Flays multiple regulation

    The continued dialogue and debate on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by stakeholders will produce a robust and balanced Act at the end of the day, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has said.

    Its Director of DPR, Osten Olorunsola, disclosed this while fielding questions from reporters at the Offshore Technology conference in Houston, Texas where the Nigerian delegations focused on the PIB.

    Olorunsola said the more the dialogue, the closer the middle ground where the provisions in the bill would be accepted to all stakeholders. He, however, noted that out of the over 200-page document, only provisions in 10 pages are seen as contentious and often discussed.

    He said: “My view is that you cannot take away the importance of dialogue. The more we discuss, the more we share; the more the chances that we will get to a common ground at some point. In my view, I am quite happy with what has happened at this conference. It shows there is still a lot of interest. The mere fact that people are speaking their minds is even the important thing. If people keep quiet over their views, it does not help.

    “It is nice that people came up with their views because it makes the key areas of gaps narrow down. If I will take the words of Hon. Samson Osagie, Deputy Chairman, House Committee on PIB, we will soon see the end of the PIB.”

    On the divergent views of stakeholders on the bill, Olorunsola said it has several pages. The areas of divergence you are talking of are less than 10 pages. People have been repeatedly talking about these 10 pages, completely undermining the 200 pages that are areas of convergence. We should focus more around where we have actually agreed. People can choose to look at a cup half empty. I like to look at a cup half full. Let us give attention to the 200 pages that we have convergence, but address these little areas that are remaining.

    “In my view, there are three or four things people are still talking about. If they don’t talk about fiscal gaps, they talk about host communities, or institutional authorities. But there are several other parts we can actually run with. We should not stop talking about these little areas that are remaining. In any case, after going through the PIB for 12 years, if it is only three or four areas that are remaining, we can try and resolve them. My view is that we should not spend another 12 years trying to fix these three or four items. Where we are today, we are ready to go. I think half PIB is better than none,” he added.

    The DPR chief also agreed with the operators on the issue of multiple regulators provided in the bill. The operators were of the view that multiple regulations are unhealthy and do not do anyone any good. Their view is that the PIB could have reduced or streamlined regulations but rather it created multiple regulations.

    He said it is true that PIB created multiple regulations, adding that it is an area to be looked. “It is an area that still has to be looked at, not from the point of what can be resolved in Nigeria alone, but actually looking at the benchmarks across the whole world. Apart from fiscals, one thing international investors look at is the robustness, simplicity and transparency of your regulation.

    “The National Assembly is aware of that. I think they will look at it very well. However, in looking at it, we also have to take our local environment into consideration. The mere fact that there is only one regulator does not mean that we cannot have another two or three. The only thing is that it has to work. It does not have to become a bureaucracy to the industry. That is really the point. Any institution that has too many regulations, is recipe for disaster. I think the National Assembly will look at that angle,” he said.

    On whether the DPR is worried about the streams of regulations as some of its functions are being whittled down in the process, he said it is not just the DPR, adding that even the PIB itself has addressed it to some extent. He said: “Even some of the extant regulations that have been around, have been somehow addressed in the PIB. However, we have to wait until it becomes an Act.

    “If it does not become an Act, all will still continue to parade themselves as regulators. We have made our views known very well. In any case, we were part of the team that put the bill together as an executive arm. Let us all wait and see the wisdom of the outcome of the National Assembly,” he added.

  • DPR: Indigenous firms supply 12% of crude oil

    Nigerian oil companies contribute only 12 per cent of the total 2.5 million barrels of oil produced in the country, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has said.

    Its Director, Osten Olorunsola, said it is erroneous for some people who say that production from marginal fields contribute 12 per cent of the total national oil production, adding that marginal fields contribute far less than that volume.

    He said: “It is incorrect to say that the 12 per cent contribution is from marginal fields. The 12 per cent you mentioned is not from marginal fields, it is from all indigenous producers, including the National Petroleum Development Company (NPDC). The marginal fields’ production is far below that. The marginal fields are doing only 50,000 barrels per day out of 2.5 million barrels.

    “Therefore, their cry for more is legitimate. It is the right thing to do. After 50 years of production in Nigeria, we cannot be going about to say that the indigenous production accounts for only 12 per cent. It should be far more than that. Even the government’s policy of encouraging indigenous participation is in that direction. They should all be supported.

    “If you look at the marginal fields specifically, nine out of 24 are already producing today. Another four or five will soon start to produce. Some of the marginal fields that would come on stream include Sogenal while Frontier has just come on stream. They are producing and they are all doing pretty well. Don’t forget that the first four or five years, they all had issues. It was a new law that came up. So, you don’t expect them to start from day one to produce.

    “They had all sorts of issues like funding. Most of the banks in Nigeria did not know how to fund long term projects like oil and gas because it is not an ATM where you put in your card and get money immediately. They needed time to understand the industry before putting in their money to support any investment in that direction. The second was that they also needed to build capacity. They needed to get the right people to help them to move the huge capital in the right direction.

    “The third issue was that quite a few of them had some litigation among themselves as regards partnership issues. Some of them went to court. Now they are all coming out of court gradually, we will see a lot of actions going forward.”

    On another marginal fields bid round, the DPR chief said the agency is working through it. He said some of the things the Department is basically looking at are that most of the fields that probably will come out in the next round are in assets that they are still trying to renew for the licence holders.

    He said:”If they don’t renew the licences, there is no point going ahead with fields people don’t even have titles to. Some of those fields are within leases that are going through renewal right now. You need to renew the leases first before you give out the fields within the leases to other people as marginal fields. That’s what we are doing basically. The leases have expired. We have to do one thing first. It is like building a house without putting a foundation. You do the foundation first before you start raising the walls. Some of the lease holders have applied for renewal and the government is going through the process of renewing them,” he said.

    The marginal fields’ owners he said are doing marvellously well. “They are already in that direction. If you go to some of the marginal fields in Nigeria, you will be shocked by what you see. What some of them have put on ground will rival any international company in the world. I have been there myself. I am not talking of pictures,” he added.

  • No killer gas in market, says DPR chief

    The Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has denied a report that there is killer gas in the market.

    Speaking at a stakeholders meeting at its Lagos office, the Head, Gas Division of the agency, Okpara Ojiako, allayed the fear of the people, saying it was not true.

    However, the stakeholders’ concluded that most of the cylinders in circulation were old and needed replacement.

    The DPR boss explained that neither the Department nor the SON has certified any gas either sourced locally or imported as unfit for domestic use because it is substandard.

    The clarification came in the wake of complaints by some retailers and consumers that there were reports and text messages that a certain gas was not good.

    He said the industry should be happy that there is a gas from other sources, adding that there were other more critical issues that should be of concern to Nigerians on the use of gas.

    Addressing the meeting which was attended by SON representatives, members of the Nigerian Association of LPG Marketers, LPG Retailers Association of Nigeria, Gas dealers, Ojiako said though efforts were on to review the standard set by the SON on theh quality of gas and its equipment, no gas in the country has been found to be below standard.

    He said the problem in the industry was not much about the gas itself, but the handling and wrong choice of equipment, such as burners, valves, regulators and the cylinders.

    Rather than creating fears in the people by branding a gas cylinder as fake, the DPR chief said the stakeholders should engage the them more on the handling of the product, noting that members of the public should be made to be aware that the under filing of cylinder amounts to cheating while overfilling could lead to death.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • How fake NNPC, DPR officials swindled me of N4m — Female fuel dealer

    A 59-year-old suspect and indigene of Iree, Osun State, Felix Afolabi, accused along with two members of a fraud syndicate of defrauding a female petrol dealer to the tune of N4 million, has claimed he got only N200,000 from the dirty deal. The victim, Mrs Mediatris Omotayo, was said to have alerted the police about her predicament when the gang attempted to kill her. The other suspects are Ganiyu Lawal and one Tunde who is still at large.

    Narrating his role in the incident, Afolabi said: “I am a building contractor based in Lagos. I used a room in my house at No. 1, Afolabi Close, Ajasa Road, Meiran, Lagos, as my office. Ganiyu and I both hail from Iree town. We grew up together, but after my primary education in Iree, I went to Atan Iregbaja in Osun State for my secondary education. I later went to a technical school in Ife.

    “I knew Ganiyu as a driver. We later met in Lagos as friends. The day I met him and Tunde in front of an eatery’s outlet, I asked them where they were going to and they said they were going to Ejigbo fuel depot. I decided to go with them.

    “ As we were going, they branched to a filling station and asked the manager to call the owner of the filling station. They showed him their identity cards, claiming that they were officials of the NNPC (Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation) and DPR (Department of Petroleum Resources).

    “The manager said the owner of the filling station was not around but they said they wanted to speak with the owner of the filling station on the phone. The manager said he had no credit in his phone. Tunde and Ganiyu aalso said they had no credit in their phones.

    “I told Tunde that I had credit in my phone. I gave it to Tunde and he called the owner of the filling station, identifying himself and Ganiyu as officials of NNPC and DPR. He said they had come to shut down the filling station because the owner had no licence to operate it.

    “The owner, a woman, directed the manager of the filling station to give us N10,000 for fuel and we drove off. When we reached Ejigbo, they dropped me.

    “About a month later, Tunde called me one morning and said that Ganiyu would come and give me N200,000. He later came, gave me the N200,000 and left. Although when I counted it later I saw only N173,000, I was happy and prayed to God to bless all of them. I did not know what business they had done.”

    Asked why they would give him N200,000 just like that, he said: “I don’t follow them to dupe people. My role was to help them secure bail whenever they were arrested by the police or charged to court. I used to perfect their bail and they used to reward me handsomely.

    “I was helping them to secure bail because they were not armed robbers. What they did was to obtain money by false pretence. You would not have seen me with them if they were armed robbers.

    “The day they went to threaten the woman with gun, they did so for her to forget about the N4 million they collected from her without supplying fuel. They did not mean to kill her. Otherwise, they would not have allowed her to escape from the spot where they had asked her to meet them to collect her money.

    “Securing bail for offenders was the first job I did when I came to Lagos. I used to go to police stations and courts to look for people to bail. That was around 1986. None of the people I had assisted ever jumped bail. I was doing it just to survive.

    “What the police normally did was to take my picture and ask me to sign that I would produce the suspect at the time the police or the court wanted the suspect or accused to appear. I was doing it before I secured a better job.”

    On how he joined the gang, he said: “There was a driver who used to drive Tunde and Ganiyu any time they wanted to operate. But there was a job they did and shared the loot without giving a dime to the driver.

    “When the driver reported them to me, I advised him to go and report them at the Meiran Police Station. That was about three years ago. He said Tunde and Ganiyu bought cars from the deal but did not to give him a dime. That was when I took interest and started following them.

    “I got big money and through the business, I was able to build two houses in Lagos. My only regret is that I did not know that the money they collected from the woman was over N4 million. Ganiyu said it was N2.7 million, whereas it was more than N4 million. I will help police to arrest Tunde who is still at large.

    “I was the one who led the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) to the house of Ganiyu. When we got there, Ganiyu hid under the mattress. When the police saw how the mattress was, they suspected that something was under it but his wife tried to deceive them. Her husband had parked his car about three poles away from the house to give the impression that he was not in. When policemen removed the mattress, they saw Ganiyu, arrested him and took him to SARS building in Ikeja. There they asked him to make a statement.”

    Narrating how she was duped by the suspects, the victim, Mrs. Mediatris Omotayo (40) said: “I did not know Ganiyu until they came to the filling station. Three of them, Ganiyu, Tunde and Afolabi came to the filling station. They showed me their identity cards claiming that they were members of the staff of NNPC and DPR and that they wanted to see the certificate that gave me the right to operate a filling station.

    “When I showed them the receipt of the documents showing the application to operate a filling station, which allows us to start selling petroleum products, they said I should give them money for fuel. I told my boy to give them N10,000 and they collected it and left. That was on August 10, 2012.

    “The second day, being August 11, Tunde called me on the phone, saying he was the one that came to the station the previous day. I thanked him. He said since we had no approval, we would be buying from a third party and it would be very expensive. I said yes, that I normally bought from a third party. He dropped the phone.

    “Two days later, he called and said he felt for me. He said he had discussed with one of his bosses named Ganiyu Lawal and he promised to assist me because he normally got allocations from the Musimi depot. I said I would appreciate that, thinking that they were real DPR staff.

    “He said he would go and meet Ganiyu. He called later and asked me to hold on for his boss. I greeted him (Ganiyu) and told him that his boy said he would assist. He said he was getting allocations from all the depots in Lagos and that he supplied even the Texaco filling station in Ojota.

    “I pleaded with him to help me. He said he would give me fuel at N92.50 per litre. I said we were buying at N92 per litre and he said okay. He said he had two trucks at Mosimi, which contained about 66,000 litres and would cost about N6 million. I could not raise up to that amount. He asked how much I could raise and I said N4 million.

    “He said he was going to Abuja for a wedding on that day and that we would continue when he returned. On Monday morning, I was the one that called him. He said he was with the driver and that he would not want to discuss it in his presence.

    “At about 10 am, I called and he said if I had the N4 million, I should go and pay. I went to WEMA Bank and transferred N2.6 million. I later made cash payments in Eko Bank as follows: first payment N436,000; second payment N968,000; all totaling N4.004 million. I later called him and told him that I had made the payment and he said he had seen the alert and that we should meet the following day at Mosimi. I paid the money into Lawal Shola Folayemi’s account.

    “The same morning, I called at Mosimi and he said in 10 minutes time, he would be with me. Thirty minutes passed but I did not see him, and when I called him on the phone, he had switched off his two phone numbers.

    “The following Monday, he called again and said since I was not supplied the product, I should come for my money. He said I should wait for him before the gate of Mosimi depot. I was there and they were calling me with a hidden number.

    “While I waited there with my brother, we saw some frightening people with fez caps and ran to the next village. They started calling me, saying that if I didn’t come to collect the money, they would kill me.

    “My husband advised that we should write a petition to the Commissioner of Police and SARS was asked to handle the case. I quoted their phone numbers and the bank account numbers I paid the money into. The police later arrested them.

    “Ganiyu said he collected money from me but that it was N2.7 million only that Tunde gave him instead of N4.004 million, and that he should be given time to pay because he is hypertensive and diabetic. He was pleading to be given time and the IPO asked him how he was going to pay; whether he would sell his house or cars. I later left.”

    The other suspect, Ganiyu Lawal (59) was said to be receiving treatment at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba. He was said to be in coma after the police allegedly hit him in the head with gun butt. He was said to have been assaulted by policemen who allegedly invaded his 15, Odekeye Street, Puposhola, New Oko-Oba, Agege Lagos home on April 25. Although he was said to have regained consciousness after a surgery was conducted to remove the clot in his brain, he was found to have suffered memory loss.

    His eldest son, Saheed, said his father was allegedly tortured over an alleged N4 million fraud, while Lawal said the money was N2.7 million. It was also gathered that as at April 28, the police had spent more than N300,000 on Lawal and was doing everything to ensure that he survived and help in the effort to get Tunde, the third suspect, arrested.

     

  • DPR warns petrol stations not to hike price

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) at the weekend threatened to seal off any petrol station that sells products above the official N97 pump price.

    Speaking with reporters in Abuja at the weekend, the Head of Downstream Operations Yerima Kollomi said the agency would hand over any arrested suspect to the police.

    He said the DPR on Thursday sealed off a petrol station at Gwagwalada for selling above the pump price.

    The dealer, according to him, bought products from other marketers and sold above the pump price to customers.

    Kollomi added that the department is prepared to rid the streets of illicit fuel traders.

    His words: “Of course, that is one of the measures we are going to take. When we get them arrested we will hand them over to the police.

    “The police will prosecute them because if you are dealing in petroleum products you must obtain a licence to do that .

    “Anybody operating without a licence is operating illegally. “

    While commenting on the essence of ridding the street of black marketers, he depicted the situation as a shame to the country.

    He said: “It is a nationwide operation because it is a directive from the headquarters and we have started.

    “As far as the DPR is concerned, the official pump price of PMS remains N97 and we will enforce that to the best of our ability.

    “Yesterday, we went to one station in Gwagwalada and shut it down because we were made to understand that the dealer was the kingpin of the people violating the pump price.

    “The information we gathered is that some people will bring their products here to sell at exorbitant prices.”

    DPR agents and police operatives narrowly escaped the onslaught of a mob of black marketers in the Federal Capital Territory.

    The traders, it was learnt, almost set the operation van ablaze.

    The enforcement team, including armed policemen, raided the Banex Junction in Wuse 2 and its environs but the traders resisted, throwing stones at the team.