The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has sealed some filling stations in Apomu, near Ifo, Ogun State over “safety lapses.”
Among them was the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)’s affiliate filling station in the area.
The DPR team, led by the Operations Controller, Abeokuta Field Office, Muinat Bello-Zagi, also sealed two fuel pumps at DE Champion filling station, Papalando and Forte Oil, Owode, for under-dispensing their products.
According to the controller, the inspection was part of DPR’s routine check on dispensing measures in terms of quality, quantity, as well as safety standard.
He disclosed that alcohol was being sold at the NNPC station, as a drinking bar adjoins it.Bello-Zagi added that the fire extinguishers at the station had expired and unserviceable, while the sand bucket had no sand in it.
He promised that the stations would be reopened as soon as the lapses were addressed.He explained: “The NNPC affiliate station was sealed for safety lapses. Alcohol was not supposed to be sold at the station. The station’s fire extinguishers had all expired. The sand buckets were without sand. We saw some cars being fueled without the drivers switching off their ignitions.
“The affected stations have to address all the lapses before we can unseal them. We want everybody who comes to the filling stations to go back home safely.”She disclosed that the DPR visited about 35 filling stations during the two-day inspection across the state.
Bello-Zagi said filling stations were selling without queues at all the places they inspected, contrary to the reported fuel queues resurfacing in some cities in the country.
