The Anambra state government issued a stern warning against the escalation of petroleum product prices, product adulteration, and meter tampering by marketers, threatening them with severe consequences if they persist.
The state’s commissioner for petroleum and mineral resources, Anthony Ifeanya, emphasised that the government would commence rigorous monitoring of all filling stations across the state.
Speaking in Awka, the state capital, over the weekend, he confirmed that the ministry had finalised preparations for the measure.
It was gathered that some of the filling stations had started selling a litre of Petrol between N850 to N970 in the state, with heavily adjusted pumps, while some of the marketers had equally, gone into adulteration to make more gains.
However, Ifeanya, said the state government was embarking on the exercise to apprehend any filling station operators found to have tampered with their meters.
The commissioner, a lawyer, warned perpetrators of such acts to desist forthwith or face the full weight of the law.
The Nation gathered that the development came on the heels of “uncountable complaints” of “tampered meters”, “adulterated fuel” and shady deals by petroleum marketers being lodged at the state ministry of petroleum.
It was observed on Sunday, May 12, that most filling stations were not dispensing the product while the few ones dispensing were besieged by motorists and other users of the product.
The development made transportation fares to suddenly soar above 100 percent as commuters now pay N300 for a journey that they initially paid N150.
Investigation revealed that most filling stations operating in Onitsha, Nnewi, Ekwulobia, Obosi, and some parts of Awka, sold above N970 per litre.
However, Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) facilities located along the Awka-Enugu expressway and in Onitsha were seen selling the product between N820 to N850 per litre.
One of the customers encountered by The Nation, who has his name as Ephraim, at one of the filling stations, said the situation had become unbearable.
He said: “The price of the product has been fluctuating for a long time, when some States were crying, we were buying between N700 to N720 per litre in Anambra, but today, it had gone up to between N920 to N970, almost hitting N1,000. How are we going to survive?
