Adulterated fuel national embarrassment –Lab analysts

By Job Osazuwa

The Society of Testing Laboratory Analysts of Nigeria (SoTLAN) has described the importation of toxic fuel into the country as a national embarrassment.

President of the society, Prof. Olugbenga Ogunmoyela, at a press conference in Lagos, said the development has also unleashed more hardship on Nigerians and disrupted the economy.

He expressed worry over how Nigeria, for many years, had persistently patronised mainly foreign laboratory companies in the analysis and certification of imported petroleum products.

“It is sad that the government agency in charge of the industry has come out to claim that the imported fuel had a high methanol content, which was somehow not detected during testing, because this is not in the normal testing protocol, before being released to depots for lifting. It is, therefore, our opinion that, as key stakeholders of high integrity, we should be involved in all forms of laboratory testing of products in Nigeria. This unfortunate experience, therefore, presents an opportunity for us to re-examine our present policy and look inwards to help strengthen the capacity of our local analytical laboratories by patronising them, building capacity where necessary, and encouraging the growth of the sector, rather than continued dependence on foreign firms.”