Reps summon three fuel marketers in Ondo for ‘overpricing’

The House of Representatives has summoned three fuel marketers in Ondo State for allegedly selling petroleum above the official price.

Chairman of the House Committee of Petroleum Resources Chief Joseph Akinlaja spoke yesterday after monitoring sale of the products in Akure, the capital, and its environs.

Akinlaja, who is the former secretary-general of the National Union of Petroleum Employees Association of Nigeria (NUPENG), was on the tour to see the effect of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), or petrol, scarcity in Nigeria.

The lawmaker regretted the attitude of some Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) members, who he said sold fuel above the official price, thus causing hardship.

According to him, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Pipeline Products and Marketing Company (PPMC) have assured that there will be abundant supply  for the Yuletide celebration.

Akinlaja, who is representing Ondo East/Ondo West , said House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara implored members to suspend their recess to resolve the fuel scarcity logjam.

The monitoring team met a long queue at Bovas filling station, which was selling at N143 per litre, while few people at Samfunk, Lao, Damarofek filling stations sold at N220 per litre.

But they displayed official pump price of N145.

The committee chairman ordered the filling stations to sell petrol at N145 per litre to customers, who filled up the stations following the mandatory order by a special task force on the product’s scarcity.

The lawmaker said the monitoring was aimed at having first-hand knowledge of the situation, saying: “When NNPC will be telling me there is fuel in abundance, I will ask: why the queue?”

He wondered why Bovas sold petrol at N143 per litre and another filling station that was less than N500 metres away sold at N220.

The Ondo State-born Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker frowned at the disparity and the excuses by independent marketers.

He said: “I am going to summon them. By this medium, I am summoning the owner of Samfunk Petroleum and Damarofek to Abuja on Wednesday to state why they should be selling petrol at N220 per litre.

“If they don’t come, the law will take its course. We are also asking Bayduck to report in Abuja on Wednesday at the House of Representatives with documents on the source and why it was selling above the official pump price.”

Akinlaja said the sources where the filling stations got their product would also be summoned to know if they were selling at prices higher than N133.28.

He added that “the country must be sanitised, as we are the enemies of ourselves”.

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