The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Eket said it had sealed 37 unlicensed filling stations in the last three months in Akwa Ibom.
Mr Bassey Nkanga, the DPR’s Operations Controller, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Eket Local Government of the state on Tuesday.
Nkanga said that any filling station without DPR’s valid licence would not be allowed to sell petrol to the public.
He said that three filling stations violated DPR’s seal order and would be made to pay the sum of N1 million each as fine for their offences.
“In the last three months, we have sealed over 37 filling stations for illegality and three filling stations were caught violating DPR’s seal order in Akwa Ibom.
“We have sealed them and they will not be opened for three months until they pay a fine of N1 million each,” Nkanga said.
Nkanga advised marketers to desist from violating DPR’s seal order or they would face the full wrath of the law.
He called on the marketers to regularise their licence to avoid clampdown by the department.
Nkanga said the department had started surveillance to check inefficiency of dispensing pumps and ensure that marketers were not cheating members of the public in the state.
“What we are doing is to ensure that there is no illegality and to ensure that the dispensing efficiency of the entire dispensing pump is really good and accurate,” he said.
He warned marketers not to build filling stations without DPR’s approval, saying that any defaulter would pay a fine of N2.5 million to Federal Government.
