The under-dispensing of petroleum products by some filling stations in the country is fast assuming a frightening dimension. It is in the bid to stem the problem that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), in conjunction with the Lagos State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), recently sealed up 13 fuel stations in some parts of the state.
The Public Relations Officer of the Command, Miss Kenny Bada, who confirmed this in Lagos, disclosed that the NSCDC, through its Intelligence Department, uncovered 13 filling stations in the Badagry axis of the state, selling petroleum products below the stipulated dispensing measurement to unsuspecting customers. According to her, the affected filling stations withheld between 0.4 and 1 litre of fuel, in every ten litres sold to members of the public.
This is not the first time that some filling stations in Lagos State and other parts of the country will be sealed for shortchanging customers by either under-dispensing fuel or selling the product above the official pump price.
In 2015, 22 filling stations were closed in Abuja and environs for selling fuel above the pump price. During the period too, 22 fuel stations were closed down in Jos for non-compliance with official price and for conniving with black marketers to defraud consumers.
Last year, a raid by the DPR and the NSCDC led to the closure of five filling stations in Osun State, and 10 in Ondo State, for selling fuel above the N145 per litre official price.
We decry the unwholesome attitude of some fuel marketers to their customers and commend the DPR and the NSCDC for sealing off filling stations which tamper with their metres in order to fleece customers. This criminality should not be allowed at our filling stations. The thriving corruption at the stations will be curbed if the stations are regularly monitored.
We urge the DPR and NSCDC to do more. There may be other filling stations in Lagos, other states and Abuja, still shortchanging their customers by under-dispensing fuel. The two organisations should, therefore, beam their searchlights further, especially at the nation’s borders with other countries.
If there are regular checks on the filling stations, such practices will be minimised or eliminated outright. Let the checks be more constant. The DPR should come hard on the erring stations. They should no longer be treated with kid gloves. The raids should not be a one-off thing.
The DPR should also monitor the sale of kerosene and gas to ensure that members of the public are not cheated. It should provide phone numbers through which members of the public can report sharp practices. There should be serious sanctions against erring filling stations.
Such sanctions should be sufficiently deterrent so that other filling stations will not join the bandwagon. For violating the official price template and the guidelines of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), we suggest that the licences of the erring fuel stations should be withdrawn. Let stiffer sanctions be instituted for those who defraud petroleum products consumers if the extant ones are not effective.