Major Marketers had withdrawn from the importation of products as a result of difficulty in accessing foreign exchange until the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) collaborated to give them easier access to FOREX.
He broke the news to reporters after inspecting an NNPC affiliate station in Gwarimpa and the Oando Petrol Station on Obafemi Awolowo Way, Jabi, beside Karimo Road fly over in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The director also shut down the Oando Petrol Station over suspected adulteration of its fuel.
Ladan had led the enforcement team of the department to the station after a tip-off that it had refused to sell its product.
On arrival, the DPR team discovered that although the station had about 9,000 litres of petrol, it refused to sell to the long queue of motorists that had spent the whole night at the filling station.
But the station’s attendants complained that their pumps were faulty and could easily pack up after dispensing product for a few minutes.
Following the inspection of the pump and the content available at the station, Ladan sealed the station up, saying: “For this station, we have almost 9,000 litres underground but the pumps are not responding to drawing this fuel from the ground. That means that there is a problem.
“The problem is that adulteration is suspected. That is why we are calling on the pumps to withdraw from this station pending when we carry out our investigations.
“We have sealed it. It is going to be quarantined until the necessary inspection and assessment is done and we know how to go from there.”
According to him, the product must have been mixed with extraneous substances that were heavier and affecting the pump.
Most of the motorists who had queued for fuel overnight lamented that the station was playing pranks, adding that it was in the habit of selling fuel above the recommended pump price to black marketers at night.
One of the motorists, who identified himself as Tosin Bright, said: “I came here at 4.30 am. Look at the time; it is now 2.30 pm but I have not gotten fuel while those that came with plastic cans between 9 and10 am have bought fuel.”
Another customer, Adisa Olutayo, said “once it is night, they adjust the pump. They sell to kegs and in the morning they revert to the normal pump price.”
Commenting on the fuel situation, Ladan said: “In the first stations we visited, which is NNPC in Gwarimpa, they have more than enough products to last for four days. From the inspection we carried out, they have more than 200,000 litres; that could last into Monday next week.
“We are appealing to the public that they should not panic because these products are already arriving and lifting is going on from the coastal depots into the hinterlands. So very soon, the situation is going to normalise. “There is more than enough that the government has ordered, both by the NNPC and the marketers.”
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