The hope of motorists and other users of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol to get the commodity in large quantity in Ilorin may not materialize soon, as the persistent scarcity of fuel continued worsening everyday.
Already, a litre of petrol was sold for N120 at few petrol stations where the product was dispensed to the final consumers.
Checks by City Rove yesterday in some filling stations within the Ilorin metropolis showed that end users of the product were paying through their nose before they could get the commodity.
Major petrol stations such as Total, MRS and AP have their stations locked up without selling to the public when our reporter visited them yesterday.
At TYK petrol station opposite Ilorin General Hospital, the petrol was allegedly sold for N120, albeit no queue.
It was gathered that many filling stations within the capital city have devised ways of dispensing the product in the evening or later in the night, to avoid being sealed up by Department of Petroleum Resources.
The same tale can also be told of Lagos State, as the nation’s commercial centre had been hit with fuel scarcity for weeks now.
The proprietor of Sanrab and Rabson Petrol Stations in Ilorin, Alhaji AbdulKareem Kunle Sanni, explained that the situation was not peculiar to Ilorin or Lagos, saying that it has become a general phenomenon.
He maintained that the situation has become a recurring decimal, advising the government to make the product available in abundance for the benefit of the users.
Meanwhile, the Ilorin office of Department of Petroleum Resources said yesterday that it had sealed up five more filling stations in Ilorin for selling petrol above the regulated price.
The affected stations included NIPCO along Old Jebba Road, Dola Bimbola at Tanke Oke-Odo and TYK at Ilorin General Hospital Roundabout among others.
The Comptroller, Ilorin DPR’s office, Engr. Amos Jokotola told City Rove in a telephone chat that affected stations were closed down indefinitely for adjusting their pumping machine.
He said many of the stations engaged in sharp practices, which compelled the agency to hurriedly shut them down.
Jokotola stated that the DPR would not
relent in waging war against the unlawful ways of exploiting the end users, warning that the battle against the menace is a continual.
The DPR boss told City Rove that his officials would launch another battle against the erring filling stations today to ensure absolute compliance to the government directive of N97 per litre of petrol.