Independent petroleum marketers in Bayelsa State were recently compelled by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to sell fuel at the regulated price of N86.50 per litre.
The state Commandant, NSCDC, Mr. Desmond Agu and the Controller, DPR, Mr. Asuquo Antai, in a major monitoring operation, stormed the filling stations to check excesses of marketers.
Apart from mega stations owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), other filling stations in Yenagoa, the state capital, were seen dispensing fuel to buyers at between N150 to N180 per litre.
But Agu and Antai who were accompanied by armed NSCDC operatives and other officials of DPR forced the station owners to revert to the regulated pump price.
Residents who were on queues to buy the product were seen jubilating and thanking the law-enforcement agents for their intervention.
Such jubilation was witnessed at Unless God filling station when the DPR and NSCDC bosses insisted that the station should either sell at the regulated pump price or close for business.
Residents who were initially buying the product at N150 per litre immediately increased their demands with some ceasing the opportunity to fill their fuel tanks.
One of the residents, a chief from Nembe Kingdom, Nengi James, described the monitoring exercise as a welcome development and appealed to the law-enforcement agencies to sustain the operation.
“We are happy that the government has not abandoned us to the profiteering tendencies of these marketers. We are still scared that if they leave now, the marketers will go back to their high prices. So, we are appealing to the NSCDC and the DPR to step up their monitoring”, he said.
There was, however, a skirmish at a NNPC filling station in Tombia, between the two agents and a colonel of the Nigerian Army attached to the Joint Force (JF) Operation Pulo Shield (OPS).
Agu and Antai discovered at the filling station that army operatives working for the colonel who drove a JTF Toyota Hilux with registration number OPPS 082 AHQ were bullying the fuel attendants and other people at the queue.
The colonel who drove into the filling station through the wrong way were reportedly angry that the fuel attendants did not sell to him on time and allowed the army operatives to unleash violence on them.
Agu and Antai who immediately intervened stopped the violence and engaged the colonel in a shouting match.
Speaking on the exercise, Antai said some filling stations were compelled to sell fuel at the regulated price.
He, however, added that Bayelsa needs daily supply of 825,000 liters of fuel to address the scarcity of the product in the state.
He said the state currently receives between 150,000 to 300,000 liters describing the quantity as grossly inadequate.
He said the DPR was against sharp practices such as hoarding, under-dispensing and overpricing adding that a filling station under investigation for product diversion would paid N6.5m fine if indicted.
“We are appealing to the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) to increase their supply to Bayelsa. The product is not just used in Yenagoa, people at the hinterland rely on it to meet their energy needs. Of we can meet 50 per cent of our daily needs, we will go ahead and wet the state with fuel.
“The government has emphasised times without number that all retail outlets should sell at N86.50. We have embarked on this operation to enforce government directive.
“Most of the filling stations have not been selling at the appropriate price. We had a meeting with independent marketers on the issue. We have told them that henceforth, they should sell at the regulated price or face severe sanction.”
Also speaking, Agu said the NSCDC was backing the DPR to ensure marketers complied with the regulated pump price.
“My men are on 24-hour patrol of filling stations and persons cheating members of the public would be dealt with according to the law. We are also warning those who are selling the product in black market to desist because we will confiscate the product and arrest them.
“Let me sound it loud and clear that diversion of petrol is prohibited. Anyone caught diverting products meant for Bayelsa to another places will be decisively dealt with. My men will be on 24 hour surveillance and patrol.
“We are aware that some filling stations sell only at night to rip customers off. We have mandated our operatives to henceforth patrol in the midnight to fish out errant marketers. We are poised to ensure that fuel consumers do not suffer in Bayelsa.”
But James, who is the Chairman of Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) in Bayelsa said. “It is not a one-off operation. If the relevant enforcement agencies carry out such operation continuously, all the sharp practices going on at filling stations will be reduced to the barest minimum.
“The PPMC should also ensure that the right quantities are brought into the state. By so doing, enforcement will be easier and erring filling stations will have themselves to blame.”
