Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority, Dr. Mustapha Abdul Hamid, has banned the small-scale fuel stations operated by roadside operators, locally called 'Gao boys'.
He mentioned that such activities are prohibited, saying, the "license is given to oil marketing companies to permit them to sell fuel. Before a license is given to you to sell fuel, you should have a service station, and those small fuel outlets are not service stations. Therefore what this means is that, they're operating illegally".
Dr. Hamid disclosed this as part of his familiarization tour of the Central Region.
He was accompanied with other Directors of the Authority to visit the site for the construction of the ultramodern NPA office in the Central Region.
He explained that because such roadside operators are operating illegally, the risk involved in buying from them is that the buyer may not get quality for their money, thus the fuel may be contaminated and cause damage to one’s car.
Due to this, the NPA has started closing such outlets.
Dr. Hamid also engaged the Central Regional Police Command on ways to support the NPA in its operations in the Region to ensure service stations go according to the laid-down processes outlined by the Authority.
“The police are our partners in terms of monitoring the downstream petroleum industry in the region. We have had very good interactions with them and going forward we are hoping to work together,” the CEO stated.
He also added the Authority only allow the 'Gao boys' to operate in the rural areas.
"But in the big cities such as the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, they do not permit the operations of the fuel sold by the 'Gao boys', thus illegal sale of fuel because that is under illegal operations and we're shutting them down," he stressed.
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