DPR Moves to Halt Hike in Fuel Price in Lokoja
Against the backdrop of arbitrary price increase in petroleum products across the country, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), has set up surveillance teams to ensure that the products are sold at the official rates at all filing stations across the country.
Mr. Gbenga Koku, Operations Controller, Lagos Zone of DPR who disclosed this recently in Lagos, said that the DPR would close down any filling station selling fuel above the official pump price of N65 per litre.
Koku said any marketer found hoarding petroleum products would be made to face the wrath of the law. He stated that products were now available nationwide, promising that the organization was ready to eliminate hoarding and inflation of product prices. He pointed out that DPR’s major problem was from motorists, who he said were always willing to purchase fuel above the official bump price.
The zonal DPR boss advised Nigerians not to agree to be cheated by paying more than N65 per litre for petrol. -Tijani Yakubu, Lagos.

Constant Research, Panacea for Economic Crises - ASURI
With the economic meltdown across nations and the threatening global warming, the need for constant research cannot be over-emphasized.
Academic Staff Union of Research Institutes, pointed out that paying adequate attention to research institutions is the solution to Nigeria economic problem.
Chairman of the union in the Federal College of Forestry, Jos, Kingsley Okeke-Agulu, told newsmen in Jos, that Nigeria cannot join the league of developed nations unless it pays attention to its research institutions.
Okeke-Agulu stressed that, “in the developed world, the research sector is the engine room of development. Malaysia came to pick palm fruits from Nigeria and has now developed them because it has a viable research sector”. He further insisted, “Research is the panacea to the nation’s economic ills. One of the reasons our country has failed to join the league of developed nations is, because the research sector has been neglected. Research requires adequate funding”.
“The research sector should be the melting-pot for university graduates to be exposed to radicalized theories they were taught. We have the capacity to excel but the wherewithal has not been given to realize our potentials”.
The Chairman explained that, the one-week warning strike embarked upon by the union all over the country was to express their grievances over the age-long neglect of the research institutes and allied sectors by the Federal Government, noting that such action was not either in government’s or researchers’ interest.
- Teryima Ajijah, Jos