By Etuka Sunday
Marketers of petroleum products must display prices of products in their retail outlets even at night or face sanctions, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has said.
Speaking while leading a monitoring team to some retail outlets in Abuja yesterday, Spokesman of the Agency, Apollo Kimchi explained that the directive became necessary to prevent sharp practices by petroleum marketers in the country.
While explaining that the monitoring exercise is an avenue for the PPPRA to gauge the market response to supply dynamics with a view to effecting policies that will improve supply efficiency, he emphasised that the exercise affords the PPPRA the opportunity to ascertain first-hand the activities at the end of the value chain in the petroleum downstream sub-sector.
He also stated that the exercise revealed that price competition amongst marketers is intensifying with some selling at N143 per litre while others sold for N145 per litre, he further explained that the Agency is focused on ensuring that the competition does not lead to under-dispensing where marketers will hide under the guise of low price to under-dispense products to unsuspecting customers.
All these discoveries will be fed into policy direction and will also reflect in our collaboration with relevant authorities to know areas that need strengthening and the signs to look out for.
Apollo, who is also the General Manager, Corporate Services explained that the information gathered during the monitoring exercise authenticates the findings made public few weeks ago that the penetration of Liquefied Natural Gas (LPG) is actually becoming very popular amongst Nigerians especially for domestic cooking purposes and that this has also led to the decrease in the consumption of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK).
In conclusion, he stated that the PPPRA is collaborating with DPR to ensure that erring petrol stations get sanctioned.
The PPPRA appeals to all stakeholders to ensure they operate within the law and stipulated guidelines in order to avoid sanctions.
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