Ahead of the Easter festival coming up by the end of March, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has reassured Nigerians that there will be no fuel scarcity, urging them to desist from panic buying.
It also stated that government has put a formidable policy in place to ensure free flowing supply and distribution of petroleum products during the festivity.
Addressing journalists after going round on routine surveillance to monitor and ensure that all retail outlets are complying with the recommended price of between N162 to N165 per litre, the Jos office Operations Controller of DPR, Mr. Stanley Ngene, said: “I can assure you that every necessary precaution is being taken by the government to ensure that we do not go back to the days of fuel scarcity.”
Ngene said that the outcome of the surveillance revealed that almost all the retail outlets in Jos are complying with the recommended price schedule, and that the rumour of fuel being sold at higher rate is untrue.
He however said that some pumps were sealed at some of the filling stations for malfunctioning pump nozzles, under-dispensing and bad delivery, noting that for every pump that was sealed the station will be charged N100,000 for it to be unsealed.
The Operation Controller again reassured Nigerians that there is no cause for panic buying as there is a constant daily supply of over there 20 trucks of fuel to Plateau State.
He added: “These strategic depots that store PMS can supply fuel to make up for any gap as there is about 17,783,000 litres of PMS in the Jos depot which can take up to 27 days to exhaust.