Abuja petrol stations ignore govt’s N87/litre directive

Some filling stations in Abuja have refused to sell fuel at the newly announced regulated price of N87 per litre, rather they kept dispensing at the old price of N97 per litre.While some complained that they were yet to exhaust their old stock, others stated that the directive would only become effective from Tuesday.Although a few stations, particularly those in the city centre, sold the product at the new price of N87 per litre, others in satellite towns continued to dispense at the old N97 per litre rateSpecifically, two filling stations in Kubwa, one of the most popular satellite towns in the Federal Capital Territory, refused to reduce the price to N87 per litre.They include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation retail outlet and Oando filling station.When our correspondent asked why the price had yet to be reduced by N10 as announced by the government, one of the senior officials at NNPC simply said, “we still have a lot of old stock.”The official, who pleaded not to be named as he was not authorised to speak on the matter, added, “the price will come down by tomorrow (Tuesday). Don’t expect it to fall immediately it was announced.”Almost all the filling stations along the major Abuja-Zuba expressway refused to reduce their prices as of the time our correspondent visited around noon on Monday.The development made motorists to besiege one of the Total filling stations on the road which was selling at the N87 per litre regulated price.Both Conoil and Total filling stations opposite the headquarters of the NNPC in the city centre sold at the official price of N87 per litre and a lot of motorists queued for fuel in these stations as of the time of filing this report.When contacted, an official in the Media Unit of the Department of Petroleum Resources, told our correspondent that the DPR had deployed its enforcement officers to monitor petrol stations across the FCT.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “it is not surprising that some of them (filling stations) have yet to comply. But they will have themselves to blame if our enforcement officers get them because various teams have been deployed to monitor compliance by marketers.”The Federal Government on Sunday announced a reduction in the pump price of petrol by N10 from N97 to N87 per litre.The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, announced the reduction while briefing State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.Alison-Madueke said the reduction, which took immediate effect, was because of the recent drastic fall in the prices of crude oil in the international market.The minister further directed the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency and the DPR to immediately effect the change.