Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr Ibe Kachikwu on Tuesday instructed the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to penalize any fuel station found hoarding petrol by giving out the seized product for free to Nigerians.
The minister gave the directive when he toured some selected fuel stations in Abuja to acquaint himself with the situation of fuel supply and also assure Nigerians of measures taken by government to address the issue.
He said serious penalties will also be imposed on that same station.
Kachikwu who is also the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) instructed most stations to stay open for 24 hours as the police will provide protection for them.
At the NNPC, Forte Oil and Conoil stations visited by the minister of state, chaotic scenes of motorists rocked the stations as vehicular movements were heavily impeded.
But speaking after the inspection at the Conoil station located opposite the NNPC towers, he said, “I have also instructed DPR as they proceed that any station that has the product and people are hoarding they should sell all the product for free to customers who are out there and we are going to impose very serious penalties on that same station. So, sealing them is not the answer it is penalizing them when they do this. I hope the message goes out loud and clear. I urge Nigerians to be a patient, stop panic buying.”
On the N413bn subsidy payment to oil marketers approved by the President which is awaiting Senate approval, he disclosed that discussions are on with the Senate president for a speedy consent.
