Fifteen illegal filling stations in Akwa Ibom State are to pay the whopping sum of N2.5 million to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
DPR operations controller Eket Field, Mr. Tamunoiminabo Kingsley Sundaye said the 15 stations have been operating illegally in the state between last year and May this year.
Speaking with journalists yesterday , Kingsley-Sundaye said the stations would pay the sum of N2.5 million each as fine for going contrary to the Petroleum Act of 1969.
He said the act states that nobody can store or sell petroleum products without license in Nigeria.
Kingsley-Sundaye explained that the marketers were operating without documentation from DPR’s office in the state.
“We have sealed 15 petrol stations from last year to date in the state because they do not have any documentation from DPR office,” Kingsley-Sundaye said.
He noted that the filling stations had been operating without licence from DPR’s office for more than six years.
Kingsley-Sundaye said that the department was collaborating with security agencies to prosecute the offenders.
“We have written to NSCDC, that the filling stations that we sealed should not operate because they have not regularised their stations and should not operate until further notice.
“The security operatives are putting eyes on them to ensure that the government seal order are not tampered with,” he said.
The DPR Boss added that those illegal stations could not stand the purpose it was meant for.
He said that two fillings stations violated DPR seal order and one was under dispensing in the state.
Kingsley-Sundaye advised petroleum marketers to ensure that their facilities have current approval or licenses before operating their businesses.
“Those stations that are adamant will have their stations sealed until they do the needful.
“There are some stations that are built without approval and we observed that some good standard stations are illegal in the state,” he said.
He said that the department had done jingles severally to ensure that filling stations would come to regularized their stations in the DPR’s office but to no avail.