The Department of Petroleum Resources said it had sanctioned 20 petroleum marketers in Abuja in the last one week for engaging in sharp practices.
The DPR Head of Public Relations Unit, Abuja zone, Mr Seidu Mohammed, made this known at a centenary and Independence Day party organised by the department in Abuja.
Mohammed said the marketers were sanctioned for offences ranging from under dispensing, selling above pump price, hoarding and diversion of petroleum products.
He said the marketers were engaged on unwholesome act during and after the recent strike by oil workers.
The spokesman said that during the strike which lasted for five days things went bad and marketers capitalised on the situation to exploit the commuters by manipulating their pumps.
“When you manipulate the pumps, automatically you are either selling above the pump price or under-dispensing by selling at what looks like the correct price. It is unacceptable,” he said.
While warning against diversion and under-dispensing of petroleum products to consumers at the filling stations, he said that DPR’s surveillance teams had been deployed around the city to check the menace.
Mohammed assured petroleum products consumers that oil marketers would not exploit them, saying DPR would ensure that oil users get value for their money at all times.
He said, “We have constituted four teams to comb the nook and crannies of Abuja. We are assuring you that within this week, especially during the festival there is no way we will allow any marketer to defraud the motorists.
“Our staff go out for surveillance every day, including public holidays and weekend, to make sure that marketers sell products to motorist according to the rule and ensure that motorists have value for their money.”
