Tricycles on a queue at a Filling Station in Yola recently.

The Petroleum Prod
ucts Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) on Friday said it had commenced the enforcement of the N86.50 and N86 per litre fuel price in petrol stations across the country.
Assistant General Manager and Head of Operations PPPRA, Mr Victor Shidok, who led the team in Abuja warned marketers against sharp practices.
He warned that any fuel station found to be selling above the regulated new pump price would face strict sanctions including withdrawal of licence or deny them the support of the Petroleum Support Fund Scheme.
Shidok who said he was satisfied with the outcome of the team’s monitoring exercise so far, noted that the monitoring would be extended to satellite towns to ensure full compliance by all marketers.
He added that the monitoring exercise which was simultaneously conducted across the country, was done in conjunction with the department  of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to ensure that Nigerians were not short-changed.
However, the situation in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital and its metropolise is a different ball game as innocent consumers are being short-changed by the marketers.
Investigation by The Tide shows that only the NNPC mega stations and Total filling stations were adhearing to the new policy.
Other filling stations have devised different strategies to cover up their exploitative activities.
While all stations placed the official price tag on their machines, they actually dispensed at higher price or manipulated the metres.
Some drivers who confirmed this systematic fraud by marketers said, they pay more than what were posted on the machines.
George GoodHead, a commercial bus driver said, “in on of the stations where I bought fuel yesterday, they sold to me at N200 even though the machine read N86”.
According to the driver, “wherever they sell according to the official price, the meters are adjusted so as to dispense less than the full litre”
Another driver, Christmas Ebi, said “ I bought from Total filling Station yesterday at the accurate price but in other private filling stations they sell far above the official price-so the new price has not become effective here in Port Harcourt.
Consumers called on the DPR and PPPRA to embark on effective monitoring of the activities of marketers in Rivers State so as to save the masses from fraudulent marketers. An official of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) who pleaded anonymity said the new price regime would become effective when marketers had sold off their old stock which they bought at higher price.

Chris Oluoh