The Abia State Task Force on Petroleum products has arrested staff of three filling stations in the state capital, Umuahia, for selling Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol above the government-approved pump price of N97 and for adjusting their meters.

Officials of the task force made the arrests while motoring compliance of filling stations on the sale of PMS. The affected companies include City Base, Ugwunchara, and Ogugua Filling Station.

During the exercise, leader of the monitoring team for Abia Central, Chief Ifeanyi Okoro, said that government would no longer tolerate the antics of any petroleum marketer that inflict hardship on the citizens as there was no basis for that, adding that marketers have no reason to disobey government directives.

Okoro noted that Osisioma depot of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Aba was revived to make petroleum products available to the people, assuring that the full weight of the law would be visited on marketers who flout regulations for selling of the products.

Some of those arrested claimed that they procured the product at N98 per litre and could, therefore, not sell below the cost price.

But a major marketer, Chief Chinagorom Ogbunamiri, said no major marketer has any reason to sell the products above government regulated prices as the products were not scarce.

Transport & Business Express reports that prior to the reopening of the Osisioma depot, Abia often experienced scarcity of petroleum products and most filling stations sold the products at exorbitant prices. PMS was sold between N110 - N130 or above, with the marketers claiming that they sourced the products from far away Lagos or Calabar.

Others who sold at the approved pump prices were alleged to have adjusted their meters to cheat unsuspecting consumers.

But with the re-opening of the Osisoma depot, Commissioner for Petroleum and Solid Minerals Development, Chief Don Ubani, has assured that government would not allow marketers to fleece Abia citizens by selling products above approved pump prices.

To this end, the task force put in place to curtail sharp practices in the sale of petroleum products, including diversion of products, adulteration and selling above approved rates, have stepped up its surveillance and monitoring activities to whip the marketers into line.