Motorists buying petrol freely without queues at a Filling Station in Abuja, recently

The Federal Government
is partnering with states and local governments as well as private investors to build hundreds of petrol filling stations across the country in a bid to prevent future crisis  in the sector.
In a release obtained by The Tide in Port Harcourt recently the government stated that the Department of Petroleum Resources, (DPR) was not doing enough to enforce the new pump price of petrol  filling stations.
It said this was inspite of the fact that DPR has stated that its entire staff was around 300 while there were over 30,000 filling stations across the country.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu confirmed this to journalists at a press  conference  in Abuja recently.
He stated that the government would also sign joint venture agreements with existing petrol stations in its bid to increase the numbers of outlets run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NPPC).
On how the federal government planned to build 800 NNPC mega stations, Kachikwu said the modalities were being worked ????.
He however explained his uncertainly about the number expected to be built.
“Whether it is going to be 800 or 500, I cannot say precisely, but definitely we are trying to develop a lot of filling stations and we are working with state governors in terms of land, and with local governments as well.
He explained that some of the processes would be done through joint ventures with some existing filling stations who are willing to do the JVs with government.
“That is being worked out and before the second quarter of 2016, you will begin to see some things on that”, he said.
On Petrol stations selling above the regulated price, the minister said the government  would start selling their products to motorists free of charge.
He however gave an assurance that the DPR would monitor all stations to ensure taht there was full compliance with the regulated price of petrol.