Sylva monitors filling stations in Lagos, charges NMDPRA to enforce N185 per litre petrol price

Oredola Adeola

Chief Timpre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, has called on the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, (NMDPRA) to scale up its surveillance and monitoring of filling stations in Lagos and other parts of the country, to ensure compliance with government-regulated pump price of N180 per litre.

The Minister made this known during his visit to Lagos on Friday, as part of the mandates given to the 14-man Steering Committee on Petroleum Products Supply and Distribution management, inaugurated by President Buhari to find a lasting solution to the disruptions in the supply and distribution of petroleum products.

According to Chief Sylva was made the Alternate Chairman of the Steering Committee, some marketers are perpetrating sharp practices by selling above the official pump price.

“He said the situation is pleasant because I observed the availability of products in the state, fuel is everywhere both in Lagos and Abuja.

He said, “I visited some selected filling stations in Ikeja, and other parts of Lagos state and it is clear that the product is available in the state.

“I want to assure you that the queues will disappear in a matter of days. The President has ordered that queues must be disappear in less than a few days.

“The development witnessed in Lagos is the same with fifteen other states in the Federation.

Sylva further ordered NMDPRA to intensify its regulatory activities to ensure marketers comply with the government-approved price for petrol.

He said, “The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, (NNPCL) retail outlets are selling at N184 per liter, across all the over 900 outlets operated by the national oil company nationwide.

“We expect all the filling stations to also sell at this price nationwide.

Sylva said Government did not see it coming, saying that sabotage played a key role in the sector as those who did not mean well for the country took advantage of the upcoming elections to create panic by engaging in market disruptions.

The Minister, however, pointed out that other factors like insecurity, foreign exchange scarcity, and lack of currency availability further compounded the situation.

Sylva noted that the inter-ministerial body is working assiduously to end the scarcity of the product, adding that the current petrol queues across Nigeria will soon disappear in few days.