As part of measures aimed at ensuring compliance with approved pump price band for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has disclosed that it has begun investigation on petrol prices and intensified surveillance of filling stations across Lagos State.
It stated that the agency’s operatives have commenced investigation into the petrol price band of seven different retail outlets filling stations in the state.
The DPR Lagos Zonal Operations Controller, Ayorinde Cardoso, said that no efforts would be spared in ensuring all filling stations across the state sell at the benchmarked price given by the government.
He added that the surveillance exercise would continue as a regular assignment for the agency and that DPR officials would be going around daily for the purpose of discreet investigations.
Speaking yesterday after an inspection visit to some petrol stations located in Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki areas of the state, Cardoso said that the seven petrol stations inspected were selling fuel to customers between N162 to N165 per litre which was the approved price band.
“This surveillance visit is part of our regular function and we are coming out today to check product availability and product quality because we heard some information about water ingress in some of the tanks.
“We going out to check that. Also, we are looking at consumer protection so that they are not short-changed by under- dispensing. We have gone round to about seven stations and they are all selling within the approved pump price band,” he said
The Zonal Operations Controller further said that the DPR sealed three fuel pumps that were under dispensing in one of the petrol stations, pending when they were rectified and re-evaluated by the regulatory agency.
According to him, though the agency has not discovered any incident of hoarding of petroleum products in the zone, our officials will continue to intensify surveillance on petrol stations.
“I want to assure the public that the sufficiency level in Lagos State is okay and for now we have not seen any hoarding of products,” he said.
