The Petroleum Dealers Association of Nigeria, PEAN has raised an alarm over the continuous rise of the fuel pump price in the country.
The Ebonyi State Chairman of the Association, Silas Njaka who stated this in Abakaliki, disclosed that the petrol pump price at the depot was 1,155 Naira on Thursday and attributed the cause to the fuel subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
The PEDAN Chairman's reaction over the fuel price hike came after
Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State through his Senior Special Assistant on Petroleum, John Nwafor sealed three petrol stations that allegedly indulged in sharp practices and meter adjustments, among other offenses in the state.
He warned the fuel dealers and marketers in the thirteen local government areas of the state to shun sharp practices.
Njaka, however, urged the federal government to rethink how to assist the poor masses, especially in addressing the petroleum-related challenges in the country.
"Remember in this country, there is nothing like scarcity again. All these we are doing is just that we are buying. I bought 910 Naira before, but today it is 1,155 Naira at the depot price.
"The federal government should rethink how to assist the poor masses because we are dying. Everything has gone out of control. It's no longer favourable to any person, both the sellers and buyers are crying, and everybody is highly involved.
"We are suffering, and the federal government should devise a mechanism to assist the poor masses so that we will not die of hunger.
"This fuel price, which is continuously rising, is the duty of the federal government to address it through the NNPP," the PEDAN Chairman said.
On the issue of adjusting fuel litres down or up, Nkaja described the act as a crime, saying that "no filling station is expected to do that."
"If you see any filling station doing that let me know, and the agency instituted to monitor petrol stations to know, the agency is DPR. The DPR must detect any filling station that is under dispensing; and the DPR, can exercise appropriate action to checkmate the filling station owners.
"The issue of determining when a filling station is discharging air instead of petrol cannot easily be determined because it is not peculiar to every filling station. It will rarely occur, because if the petrol goes back to the tank, you check your pump verve in the morning, it first dispenses air, unknowingly to the owner, you will not even know before the main petrol comes out," he added.
