The Department of Petroleum Resources in Bayelsa State on Tuesday slammed a fine of N1 million on a defaulting filling station in Yenagoa, De Arizona Oil, for selling petrol under the seal of the agency.
Two other filling stations, B.M. Links Ltd and SOBAZ Oil, were also sealed off “for contravening the operational guidelines of the department.”
The Assistant Chief Officer, Yenagoa Field Office, DPR, Mr Prince Oshodi, imposed the disciplinary measures on the affected filling stations during a continuation of the agency’s Christmas and New Year surveillance exercise to ensure availability of products at government-approved prices.
He told newsmen that the De Arizona Oil did not have the right to sell petrol after it had been sealed off a few days before for under-delivery of product occasioned by manipulated pumps without addressing observed operational errors.
Oshodi said, “What we noticed at the De Arizona Oil was a gross violation and the penalty is huge. It means that they are selling petrol under a seal of the Federal Government.
“No filling station should be allowed to do that. It is N1million fine if you sell under the government seal and that does not qualify you to be unsealed.
“In as much as we have our seal on your pump, you have no right to tamper with it. And if you do, it is a gross violation of our guidelines.”
Speaking in an interview, the state Chairman of Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr Erefaghamote Peters, said the DPR had the Federal Government’s marching order to enforce compliance of regulatory guidelines on operators.