The Adamawa office of the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said it renewed the operation licences of about 85 per cent of existing 530 petroleum stations in the state.
Malam Sadeeq Ibraheem, the regional coordinator of the agency, said this while speaking with the press in Yola on Monday.
He said the remaining filling stations that could not complete the renewal of their licences was because they were waiting for tax clearance certificates from the Federal Inland Revenue Service FRIS.
Ibraheem explained that the agency would not renew operations documents of a retail outlet without an accompanying tax clearance certificate, stressing that it would not compromise the basic policy requirements.
He identified some of the challenges facing the operational activities of the agency to include unnecessary objections from some communities in building of new petroleum stations even after all the due processes were observed.
The coordinator emphasised that the agency had since prohibited sitting of petroleum stations within the radius of 20km to the borders and all operational licences of stations close to the borders had been suspended.
He said the initiative was aimed at curbing smuggling of petroleum products to Cameroon and other neighboring border towns, saying the agency appreciated the efforts of the Nigerian Customs (NCS) for their support on this issue.
Ibraheem warned the independent marketers against diversion of petroleum products, compromising safety measures and pump under-dispensing of the commodity to consumers, stressing it will not hesitate to sanction violators.