AS filling stations in Delta State continue to sell products, especially petrol, at different prices, the state Petroleum Products Monitoring Committee has advised residents to patronise only those selling at reasonably lower prices.
The government said buying from those selling at considerable prices would force others selling at arbitrarily high prices to bring lower their prices.
Chairman of the committee-taskforce and Commissioner for Oil and Gas, Prince Emmanuel Amgbaduba, who gave the charge yesterday in Asaba, added that the state Government was concerned about scarcity of fuel and other issues affecting livelihood of the people across the state.
He said: “Since our taskforce was put in place and we have gone round the state, we discovered that petrol is becoming more available to our citizens, though the queues are still there, but easing out gradually and the price per litre is also coming down.
“Although, some people are still selling at N400 and above per litre, the prices are still coming down and I can inform you that we were represented this morning by a member of our committee (IPMAN) at a meeting with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
“At that meeting, IPMAN and NUPSRC agreed that because of the cost which they bought the products to the various petrol stations initially, so long they can prove they bought the products at that rate, those selling within Warri and environs should sell at N220 per litre and those selling within Asaba axis should sell for N230 per litre until they exhaust that stock.
“It is our hope that as time goes on, the prices will come down further with the availability of more products and with the promise of NNPC Limited to bring in more petrol, I am sure that the prices will keep coming down.
“I want to crave the indulgence of our citizens in Delta to continue to be patient and patronise petrol stations selling at the very lowest rates. That way, it will drive others to bring down their prices when no one patronises them.
“As a government, we will continue engage them to ensure that our citizens are not ripped off their hard-earned monies.”
