DPR shuts 26 fuel stations in Benue, Nasarawa

The Directorate of Petroleum Resources has shut 26 filling stations in Benue and Nasarawa states in the last one week.

It added that those that were sanctioned had paid the required fine to the Federal Government.

The DPR Controller in charge of the two states, Abdullahi Isa, said this while speaking with journalists in his office in Makurdi on Wednesday.

Isa lamented the fuel scarcity, observing that instead of getting about 20 trucks daily, Benue received 20 of the amount.

The controller was however not able to immediately provide the names of outlets that were shut in the two states.

He warned that any filling station that failed to comply with the approved pump price of petrol or indulged in other sharp practices, such as hoarding of the product, would be sanctioned.

He said on Wednesday, Benue got only four trucks of Premium Motor Spirit or petrol, amounting to about 113,000 litres of fuel, which, he noted was grossly inadequate for motorists in the state.

Isa denied that staff of the department were conniving with filling stations to defraud consumers by increasing the pump price to N105 and N110 as against N87 per litre.