Despite the Federal Government’s ban on the supply of petroleum products to filling stations within 20-kilometre radius to the country’s land borders, the product is reportedly being sold in border towns in Katsina State, THISDAY reliably gathered.
Recall that on Thursday, November 7, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Hameed Ali, had directed that no petroleum products should be supplied to any filling station within 20 kilometres to the borders in the country.
However, investigations by the THISDAY revealed that some filing stations located at the border communities of Daura and Jibiya are having a field day as the products is openly sold in a broad day light without recourse to the ban.
It was also gathered that in Daura, which has fallen within the banned territories, as it is13 kilometres away from the border, petroleum product is freely being supplied to filling stations within the town.
THISDAY reports that this development came at a time when soaring fuel scarcity hit border towns in Ogun, Lagos, Adamawa, Katsina, Jigawa and Sokoto States, as petroleum is reportedly sold at N600 a litre, crippling business activities in the areas.
Our reporter, who was in Daura, observed that some filling stations within the vicinity of the town are open as motorists buy fuel freely.
Also, our reporter who visited Jibiya town observed that the product is sold at some filling stations such as Himma Oil, S. Nova, Ammani Oil, Wali Oil Limited, Kamsus Oil and Fulani Yarima Petroleum Company all scattered across the town.
A source told this reporter that these filing stations were selected by the Customs operatives to sell the product, just as another source said that these filing stations had not yet exhausted the supplies they got before the ban.
However, THISDAY contacted the Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Kano branch, Bashir Dan-mallam disclosed that the ban was actually effective in these areas, saying “whoever sells products after ban, the fuel is not supplied to him, but an old stock that did not finish even after the FG’s decision”.
Mr Dan-Mallam added that even the independent marketers had stopped supplying the products to the affected areas, even as he disclosed that some of their trucks had many at times been intercepted by the Customs operatives en route to the areas.
“When our trucks got intercepted by the customs operatives once, twice and more, we completely stopped supplying in order to fully comply with the government’s directive,” Mr Dan-Mallam said.
Meanwhile, today (Thursday), the Katsina State branch of the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, said it has halted the sales of fuel in 50 fuel stations in the Jibiya border community of the state.
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The state field office DPR Operation Controller, Mohammed Sani, made the disclosure after a monitoring tour at the border communities.
Mr Sani said, “we have been to the border communities in Katsina to monitor compliance with the Federal government’s directive on no fuel sales within twenty kilometres distance from Nigeria borders.”
Mr Sani also noted that he had led other top DPR officials in monitoring fuel sale in katsina and its surrounding communities.
THISDAY
