The Department of Petroleum Resources, Abeokuta Field Office, on Thursday dispensed petrol for free to motorists in Abeokuta.
The filling station, Daslap Petrol Station, Olomore, was allegedly caught selling above the official pump price.
The team, led by its Head of Operations, Mr Kasali Akinade, said the action was necessary to make others comply with the law.
“We got a tip-off that this station, Daslap, had fuel but they were selling above the pump price at N200 per litre.
“On getting here, we also had evidences to support the claim.
“When we checked their fuel stock level, we discovered they had 33,000 litres. In order to serve as a deterrent to others, we decided to ask them to give their fuel for free.
We said they should give fuel to 20 motorists and 30 bikes for free,” he said.
He noted that most of the marketers sold at night and “ungodly hours, when they know that officials cannot visit their station”.
Akinade, however, accused some security agents of sharp practices, thereby making the DPR’s work more difficult.
“Most of the law enforcement agents are not really helping matters. Some of them collect Jerry cans, some of them bring in vehicles from the exit points while we are trying to arrange and create sanity within the filling stations,” he said.
Assessing the situation in the state, Akinade described it as ‘artificial’, noting that most of the stations had petrol, but were either hoarding or selling above pump price.
