Consequently, the corporation mandated the management of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to henceforth ensure effective monitoring of private depots for compliance.

The National President of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo, disclosed this while granting interview with journalists in Kano.

The IPMAN president said the management of NNPC issued the warning after an emergence meeting with the officials of the IPMAN in Abuja on Wednesday.

Committed to address the perennial scarcity in some parts of the country, NNPC had threatened to stop giving supply to private depot owners who continue to violate the order, Okoronkwo said.

“We have the assurance of the NNPC to henceforth blacklist any depot owner who continues to sell the product above the approved ex-depot price while appropriate sanction will be issued. Government said the era where unpatriotic depot owners would continue to feed fat on Nigerians is over,” Okoronkwo quoted the NNPC official.

Recall that last week the IPMAN national president had accused the management of NMDPRA, under the leadership of Faruk Ahmed Maishanu, of failure to check the excesses of private depot owners, which he said was responsible for the flagrant and indiscriminate increase of the ex-depot price.

Represented by IPMAN chairman, Kano chapter, Bashir Danmallam, Okoronkwo said since the Federal Government has not increased the fuel pump price, there was no justification for private depot owners to increase the ex-depot price.

While commending NNPC for taking the necessary steps to check the excesses of private depot owners, Okoronkwo urged NMDPRA to ensure total compliance with the NNPC directive so as to return normalcy in the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country.