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…say we must exhaust old products first
…insist sales has been poor due to lockdown
…as crude oil prices continue to summersault
Fuelling station operators on Tuesday said they shunned Federal Government directive to reduce pump price of fuel from N125 to N123.50 per litre because their old stock has not been exhausted.
Recall that the apex petroleum products regulatory body had announced a new price regime on April 1.
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) apparently sensing the effects of the lockdown announced further reduction of the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol from N125 to N123.50k per litre.
The agency made the announcement in a statement signed by its Executive Secretary, Abdulkadir Saidu, in Abuja.
A survey conducted by TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) in Abuja clearly indicates a clear disregard for the new price regime as the operators refused to adjust their meters.
In a bid to get a clearer picture of the situation, TNG visited filling stations in Zuba, Jikoyi, One man village, Dede, Kubwa, Abuja Kaduna express road and Orozo axis in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT and the pump price remained N125per litre.
In a chat with filling station fuel attendants, TNG discovered that the response was like a prepared script”we have not finished our old stock they all chorused.
Asked whether they were not scared of Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, officials, one of the attendants told TNG”for this lockdown make dem come now we de wait.
“We go tell dem say na old products we get and how many people de buy fuel these days even people no de buy for Jerry cans again as NEPA don de try now.
“We no de run shifts again because there’s no need oh as nobody kuku de come buy like before.
The most revealing in this report is that NNPC Petroleum sales outlets failed to respect the FG directive as they also refused to adjust their meters.
As at on Monday this week the price of crude oil in the international market has continued to tumble.
This could further lead to reduction of pump price by May 1 but will the powerful filling station operators obey? This is a question for another day.