Oil & Gas
THE Special TaskForce of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has stepped up arrest and prosecution of erring marketers and fuel hawkers across the country. This is part of the efforts to sanitize the fuel supply and distribution system to eliminate the queues.
The NNPC Special TaskForce on Filling Stations Monitoring has made a series of arrests including two filling station managers who diverted 66,000 litres of petrol and six illegal hawkers of petrol in Abuja.
The two managers of Azman filling stations in Nyanya and Kuje, two suburbs of Abuja, were arrested after close monitoring by the team for diverting trucks of petrol meant for their stations to unknown destinations.
They have been handed over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps for prosecution.
In addition to prosecution, the filling stations would pay a N250 fine for each litre of petrol diverted.
The Special TaskForce has also arrested six persons in the Central Business District, Abuja, for hawking petrol in jerry-cans. Three of the arrested persons – Samila Umar, Atlahim Abdullahi and Bashir Sani – were charged and prosecuted at the Area Court, Gudu, where Justice Sidi Bello sentenced them to two-month imprisonment or a N2,000 fine which they promptly paid.
The other three who were arrested yesterday are expected to be charged today.
Realnews recalls that NNPC had previously alleged that unscrupulous marketers were sabotaging its effort to ensure fuel is available in the country and sold at the official price of N145 per litre. Despite the Corporations effort fuel scarcity across the country has been lingering.
Perhaps, the arrest and prosecution of offenders will serve as a deterrent and help to normalise fuel supply and distribution in Nigeria.
– Feb. 7, 2018 @ 4:50 GMT |
Tags: Atlahim Abdullahi and Bashir Sani Azman filling stations Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Samila Umar
