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DPR suspends seven oil marketers, sanctions 11 others

By on May 1, 2014

The Department of Petroleum Resources has suspended the operating licences of seven petroleum product marketers and has sanctioned 11 others in Abuja for sharp practices.

It said the 18 marketers were sanctioned in April, adding that their sharp practices had led to the scarcity of fuel in some communities in the Federal Capital Territory.

Confirming the development to our correspondent, the spokesperson for the agency, Mrs. Obioma Uzoigwe, said the marketers were sanctioned after the DPR inspection team visited their outlets and discovered their unwholesome activities.

The Head of Operations, Abuja Zone, DPR, Mrs. Muinat Bello-Zagi, also stated that the marketers were sanctioned for various offences, especially for under-dispensing petroleum products with rear case of diversion.

She said the unwholesome acts of the oil marketers were discovered by the agency’s monitoring team between April 1 and 28.

According to Bello-Zagi, the offending marketers comprise 10 independent and seven major dealers as well as one affiliated station of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

She said, “We sanctioned about 18 marketers in April 2014 for various offences, which include diversion, safety lapses, under-dispensing of petroleum products, etc. Seven others had their licences suspended.

“In addition to the sanction, which is sealing of their stations, some of them who diverted or hoarded products were suspended for four months, and if there is repetition of the offence they will have the licences revoked.

“You know that the last thing a marketer would want is to have his licence suspended even for a day, it means a lot to him. Apart from that, they will also be charged the commercial value of the products and this is because the products are not supposed to go to where they were diverted to.”

Bello-Zagi did not mention the names of the marketers, but noted that the agency had surveillance teams to monitor the lifting of products from depots for discharge at the various filling stations in the Abuja zone.

“We have designed mechanism to monitor the activities of marketers and we have put in place checks and balances to know if they are hoarding or not, and if we catch any defaulter, they are sanctioned appropriately,” she said.

 

 

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