The Department of Petroleum Resources on Friday uncovered and sealed an illegal engine oil manufacturing factory in Usubu village, near Kontagora in Niger State.
Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, led by ASP Ademola Oyasola, arrested three persons from the factory.
The three persons arrested are the manager of the company, Phillip Ambi; a sales representative, Emeka Anatusi; and the Secretary, Grace Asilonu.
Oyasola told newsmen that the suspects would be taken to the NSCDC headquarters in Abuja and handed over to the legal unit for prosecution.
A DPR team, led by its Zonal Public Relations Officer, Muhammed Saidu, accompanied by the NSCDC officers, discovered the factory during a routine inspection and monitoring in the state.
Saidu told newsmen at the end of the exercise that the company was operating without approval from the DPR and in an unsafe environment.
He explained that before anybody could engage in petroleum product business in Nigeria, such person must be licensed by the DPR in accordance with the Petroleum Industry Law.
According to DPR’s spokesman, the company is endangering the lives of the women and children at the factory by exposing them to dangerous chemicals without protection.
Saidu said that the products of the company could not have met the standard since it was operating illegally.
He stated that DPR would put the products to its laboratory test to ascertain its composition and standard.
He, however, paid the 38 workers of the company N1,000 each as their unpaid wages and sealed the factory.
Saidu said: “This factory remains sealed while investigation will be carried out as to the source of their raw materials.
“The company produces two types of engine oil called Ribcon auto oil and Zikon Super Engine multi-grade oil.
“The activity of this company is illegal and it is also dangerous to the health of these innocent women and children engaged by the company.”
The factory manger, while answering questions from newsmen, said that the company got approval from the Standards Organisation of Nigeria.
Ambi also said that the company did not have licence from the DPR but that his boss, who was not in town, applied for a licence.
The name of the company is IMN Auto Parts Limited located in a village called Usubu, near Kontagora.
The company engaged the services of 30 women and eight boys who poured the oil into various sizes of plastic containers.
Some of the labourers who spoke to newsmen said that they were paid N500 daily but were not aware that the company was operating illegally.
The DPR team had on Thursday sealed three filling stations in the state for selling petrol above the approved pump price of N97 per litre.
The filling stations were Jafaru Investment and Logistics Limited, Diko Junction, Suleja; AA Rano Nigeria Limited; and Medengen Petroleum Company Nigeria Limited, both on Lagos Road, Kontagora, Niger State.
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