Petroleum Dealers in Anambra to get new law guiding them over extortion

www.odogwublog.com reports that Petroleum dealers in Anambra State still sell at N95 per a litre , contrary to the Federal Government reduction of the pump price of  Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, from N97 to N87 per litre, Nigerian Pilot investigations revealed today.

The dealers although in anonymity claimed they cannot reduce the prize sequel to the levies they pay to the state Government .
But the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano on oil and Gas, Lady Ngozi Okoye described the allegation as untrue, baseless and unfounded.
She wondered why independent marketers should blame government for their woes and disobedient to federal government order.

Lady Ngozi Okoye noted that the petroleum marketers have pushed government to the wall and said that the State government will not waste further time in enacting the enabling law that will checkmate the activities of the dealers in the state.
She even attributed such dissident to the lawlessness of the  petroleum dealers, saying that Anambra state will still be at the mercy of fuel dealers if there is no enabling law empowering the state committee on Procurement, Distribution and Regulation of Petroleum product Prices to discipline and prosecute erring dealers.

She lamented that in the past, each time the committee seals off petroleum stations for one offence or the other, the PPMC unseals them citing their non possession of the legal right to carry out such exercise.

She said, the law when enacted will give the committee legal backing to enforce action on any marketer that hikes the pump price of PMS, adjusts their metres or sell adulterated product in the state.

Lady Okoye, flanked by the State Chairman, Committee for Procurement, Distribution and Regulation of Pricing of Petroleum Products, Prince Nnamsom Nwafor-Orizu said the state is presently, amending the enabling law to help monitor and seal off stations of offenders. She added that petroleum marketers that go against the rules in the State will be brought to book.

The SSA further explained that petroleum products have remained higher in Anambra than the surrounding states because Anambra oil marketers prefer to buy their products from importers from Calabar in Cross River State  instead of Port Harcourt due to their claim that they won’t  get Petroleum Equalization  Fund if they buy from Port Harcourt.

According to her, “when petroleum price was reduced by the Federal Government to N87.00, marketers were given two weeks to adjust to the new price regime because they claimed to have bought their products at N97.00.
Yet afterwards, the committee discovered that the price of petrol was still high because they claimed they still bought fuel at high cost”

She however,  urged Anambrarians to remain calm as the state government is doing everything within its powers to ensure that the price is forced down, adding that a meeting with IPMAN will soon be convened to find a lasting solution to the rising price of petrol in the State.

As for the status of Anambra as oil producing state, Lady Okoye said the state had been asked to sell a consignment and produce receipt to that effect and the state will be presented as oil producing state, adding that the refinery itself is 50 percent completed as Orient Petroleum is piping from Mkpu Nando to its primary site at Nsugbe.

The State Chairman, Committee for Procurement, Distribution and Regulation of Pricing of Petroleum Products, Prince Nnamsom Nwafor-Orizu, blamed the petroleum dealers in the state for greediness and trying to make money at the expense of others. He said that Governor Willie Obiano’s administration will not relent in ensuring that the recalcitrant dealers are dealt with. “His Excellency is not relenting in making life better for citizens” he said.