Guardian

Worried by the refusal of the Independent Marketers of petroleum products to adhere to the approved pump price of petroleum products, the Taraba State Petroleum Taskforce has mapped out strategies to compel the marketers in the state to comply as a matter of urgency or risk being thrown out of the state.

The state chairman of the taskforce, Hamman Adama who would want dealers of the products to take cue from the NNPC Mega Station in the state, said apart from the plans to force the independent marketers to bring down their price to the approved rate, the taskforce has been working round the clock to stop diversion the products.

Adama who spoke exclusively to The Guardian cited the leadership of the NNPC mega station whom he said were on ground throughout the “period”{ yuletide} to make sure that the product “was not out of stock”, and stressed that the need for all a sundry dealing in the products to take cue from “them” {NNPC}, can no longer be overemphasized.

While the mega station, as observed by The Guardian have continued to sell at government approved price of N97, ensuring constant supply of the products at the same time, the independent marketers, as observed have continued to dispense fuel at the rate of N130 to N135 per liter.

This prompted the storming of the NNPC mega station located along Mile 6 by commercial drivers in the state, to tender their appreciations to the management of the station for making the product available to the people at an acceptable price.

Noticing that the hiking of the fuel price by the Independent Marketers did not go down well with the people of the state, the taskforce came up with the planned measures.

Though the chairman refused to make known the plans and strategies, The Guardian reliably gathered that closing down such filling stations is one of the many plans being considered by the taskforce.