The Bauchi office of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has sealed at least 35 filling stations in the state for various offences.
Alhaji Abdullahi Iliyasu, the operations controller of the agency, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi on Tuesday.
He said the affected stations were sanctioned for diversion, hoarding, dispensing the product by using one pump and selling in jerry cans.
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“We have fined some of them and eventually unsealed them to serve as deterrence to others,” he said.
He explained that his office had in the last two weeks improved regular supply of the commodity to various parts of the state and across the 500 registered filling stations.
The controller noted that the agency has embarked on daily patrol of existing filling stations and mounted surveillance to check and detect instances of sharp practices.
He said the improvement recorded in the supply of the product was due to the role of the strategic reserves in Kano and Plateau depots, which remained regular.
“We have tried our best to ensure that no much processing of vehicles at filling stations,” he said.
NAN reports that the Bauchi metropolis has been experiencing fuel scarcity due to inadequate supply of the commodity from the depots. (NAN)
