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The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) Eket Field Office said the department has reminded petroleum dealers in Akwa Ibom State that it would commence enforcement of renewal of expired licenses in the state by April 1, 2020.
Operations Controller of DPR, Tamunoiminabo Kingsley-Sundaye, stated this during the first quarter operations meeting with product facility operators in Akwa Ibom chapter of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) at Eket yesterday.
“If your station does not have a license, it means that the station is an illegal station. This is to remind you that by April 1, the DPR will enforce license renewal in the state. When your license expires, it is as good as you don’t have a license,” he said.
He explained that over 300 filling stations were yet to renew their licenses that expired on December 31, 2019 in the state, insisting that expired licenses should be renewed between January and March 2020.
“The law allowed 90 days to expiration of license, most of these licenses expired by December 31 and it is expected that by October 2019, you should have submitted licenses for renewal,” he said.
He said the DPR gave filling stations without licenses untill the end of March, while calling on them to regularise the operational documents of their filling stations.
Kingsley-Sundaye said the department would continue to remind operators of white product facility to ensure renewal of their licenses, warning owners of filling stations against substandard petroleum products in the state.
He added that some of the filling stations lacked safety provisions, saying some filling stations were sealed over unsafe practices and poor housekeeping.
He advised the Akwa Ibom chapter of IPMAN to have a self-regulatory approach in resolving their problems, urging IPMAN to give useful information to the DPR in order to get rid of quacks in the petroleum sector.
Speaking on behalf of the dealers, Secretary of IPMAN, Akwa Ibom chapter, Francis Udoyen, thanked DPR for giving its members operational guidelines and compliance to license renewal regulations.
He said license renewal would help its members to ease their operations with the department and promised to comply by regularising the licenses of their filling stations in the state.