The Niger State office of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has accused some petroleum marketers in the state of under-dispensing of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol.
The Niger State Controller of DPR, Engineer Abdullahi Isah Jankara, disclosed this while speaking with journalists in Minna, the state capital on the activities of the department.
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The pump price for PMS is fixed at N165.7 but majority of petrol stations in Niger State are selling at N162.
Jankara, who lamented that monitoring of filing stations had been relaxed in the state because of the security situation, said he is not 100 per cent satisfied with petroleum marketers.
“In recent time, we have had the challenges of marketers selling in large quantities into jerricans that are being taken to unknown destinations.
“Delivery is another problem in terms of efficacy of the pump because we discovered that some of them underdispense to customers.
“And when we go on surveillance, marketers tend to get information before our arrival and adjust to the normal pump but when we disguise to the place, we usually catch them,” Jankara said.
The controller, however, disclosed that The Nigerian government was doing everything possible to provide an alternative to kerosene, charcoal, firewood and petroleum to safe the environment from the danger of pollution.
“Nigeria has Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) that can serve every household and safe us from the danger of using kerosene, chacaol and firewood to cook.
“So also is the compressed natural gas that motor can use instead of petroleum,” he said.
On the increase in the price of cooking gas in the recent time, he said LPG is deregulated and that there was nothing the government could do about it since it is not subsidized.