Deploying simple tactics of distraction, including illegal adjustments of meters, among others, filling stations across the country have continued to shortchange motorists at the fuel pumps. And as consumers complain, these operators smile to the bank, albeit, from illegal earnings. Sadly, the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) appears to have turned a blind eye to this, allowing the extortion to flourish, MUYIWA LUCAS, JOHN OFIEKHUENA and MIKE ODIEGWU report.
It is an age-long act – an act of shortchanging motorists at the fuel pumps. Petrol attendants, relying on old tactics and, in some cases, in connivance with their station managers, have made victims of motorists who buy fuel from their stations. This has introduced an unsavoury twist to the prevailing high cost of petrol in the country.
To the inexperienced, the unsolicited friendly jokes and pleasantries put up by most filling station attendants depicts courtesy, but for the initiated, such pleasantries are nothing but tactics meant to divert the customer’s attention from the fuel dispensing meter, aimed at dispensing less fuel than the unsuspecting customer would pay for.This, in addition to outright adjustment of the meter to dispense less fuel than is displayed on it, is a practice that has been going on for long.
Although many may have overlooked this incident in the past, the biting reality of the removal of petrol subsidy on Nigerians have reawakened their consciousness to this nefarious act.
“I have had ugly experiences in some of these petrol stations. I stopped buying fuel in some of them.The worst are these filling stations, whose prices are lower. They make up by seriously adjusting their meters to dispense lesser quantity at the same price of the actual quantity it should be,” Chris Adol, a motorist and resident of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, told The Nation.
According to Adol, most filling stations are deep in the act of selling below the standard gauge, making it almost impossible to pay for 10 litres of petrol and getting same quantity paid for in your tank at petrol stations.
Although some consumers admitted that the rate of shortchanging has declined with the phasing out of subsidy, there were other respondents, who narrate to The Nation their ordeal at some retail outlets.
In Abuja, it is a two-sided situation. Customers, including those patronising the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) retail outlets, complained that the filling stations were under dispensing the product to them through adjusted meters.
While a motorist, who simply identified himself as Sufianu, said most of the filling stations he had visited in the metropolis sell accurate litres, a taxi driver, who gave his name as Mubarak, narrated an ordeal at different retail outlets in the city. “Most of the petrol stations between Deidei and Airport Road hardly dispense the full quantity,” he said.
If a motorist at NNPCL, Arab Road, Kubwa, identified as Louis, had his way, perhaps he would have changed the name of NNPCL retail outlets in the axis to “black marketer.” He noted that he has battled with the petrol pump attendants over the under-dispensing of petrol at different times.
His words: “Soon after the subsidy was removed, I suspected that the measurement was not full. “Thereafter, I went there with a container to test them and discovered that their pumps were adjusted. After trying them for several times and realised they have adjusted their pumps, I now avoid the filling station, which unfortunately, I should be patronising because of its proximity to my house.”
Further investigations indicated that petrol attendants are not alone in this shady business. They commit the heinous crime in connivance with their station managers and owners. This, according to investigation, explains why many attendants who have been caught engaging in such sharp practices express no remorse and still manage to retain their jobs. The situation leaves a victim helpless because their superiors would rather plead with a customer than fire an errant attendant.
“How would the manager of a filling station punish an errant attendant who knows that even the owner of the filling station has tampered with the reading of the dispensing machines?” asked Sola Oguniyi, the manager of a mega filling station in Ogun State.
The deeds of errant filling station attendants have left bitter tastes in the mouths of many motorists. While a few muster the courage to challenge such attendants, others simply grumble and carry on without challenging them. But it is believed that the trend has caused unnecessary friction between many private car owners and their drivers, as the former often think that their drivers are the ones trying to play smart, especially prior to the subsidy removal regime.
A mechanical engineer, Olukayode Sobowale, explained that petrol stations adjust their pumps to reduce their loss. According to him, because petrol is highly inflammable, it vapourises very fast, a loss for the business owner. This, he said, is why sometimes there is always a disagreement between a tanker driver after discharging its content into the storage of a filling station and it is found that what was loaded at the depot that the tanker driver signed for is not the same volume as what he discharges.
Sobowale explains: “There are losses to vapour because of the inflammable nature of petrol and someone has to pay for it. Besides, the long the product stays in the storage of a filling station, the more loss it incurs to vapourisation. This accounts for why meters are usually adjusted not to read the exact quantity. In most filling stations the best you can get from them is between 0.65 and 0.85 litres. Also, most filling stations, especially, independent marketers, tend to manipulate their dispensing pumps to discharge air and petrol together. This is done by the in-house engineer to distort the regular workings of the pump so that they can make extra money.
“The technique is simple: adjust the hook of the pump and slack the spring or lever inside the pump, and educate the attendants on how to handle the pump so that the public will not suspect any foul play. That is the reason behind some stations dedicating some pumps to vehicles and others to jerry cans, because it is easier to detect the anomaly when you buy in a keg.”
Another engineer, Olufemi Adebola, agreed that manipulating the fuel pump to the advantage of the fuel dealers is very possible.
Adebola explained: “Yes, it is possible to adjust the meter calibration for a fuel dispenser at a filling station. The principle is quite easy for a technical person. You see, the principle of flow of fuel through the pump has a direct corresponding effect on the turning of the meter. The moving wheels can be re-calibrated without an individual buying fuel noticing it. This can be likened to the old meter used by PHCN where individuals can actually adjust the meter flow relative to the volume of electricity consumed.
“Another instance where fuel attendants’ cheat individuals is when they operate the distraction tactics.The meter attendant might decide not to rub off the previous sales, especially if he had just made a marginal sale to, say an okada (motor cycle) rider or a 10-litre fuel in a keg. They go ahead to pump the fuel in your car after you have been distracted.”
Operators react
However, Sobowale’s submission was refuted by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), which defended that its members might no longer have the need to under-dispense petrol because there is no pump price ceiling.
The association’s National President, Alhaji Abubakar Maigandi, said since the independent marketers are at the liberty to sell the product at various rates, the marketers would prefer hiking their rates than under-dispensing the product.
His words: “All I know is that it is very difficult for independent petroleum marketers to under dispense. This is because the price is not restricted. You can see some filling stations are selling at the rate of N620, N640 and above per litre. That difference will not make any marketer to under dispense the product, especially the independent marketers.”
Similarly, the IPMAN National Secretary Chief John Okeocha, in a chat with The Nation, noted that under – dispensing of PMS attracts a penalty. He called on the NMDPRA to investigate and bring the perpetrators to book. He added that the organisation will always abhor such sharp practices since it is fraudulent and reduces patronage.
His words: “The issue is that there is a penalty for under-dispensing. NMDPRA has a duty to investigate and know those who are doing foul business and call them to order. “Nobody, no group, no organisation can support irregularities in their transactions.
“Anybody who is doing under dispensing is going against the law. Two, he is reducing his customership, he is into fraud. Nobody can support this kind of thing. So, the law enforcement agency has the right to discipline anybody who is defrauding the public.”
Oversight failure
But consumers are of the opinion that the regulator, the NMDPRA, is slumbering in this aspect. Until the scrapping of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), motorists contended that the sharp practices by filling stations, though existed, but never was it at the present level. “I can remember that DPR used to supervise the activities of these petrol stations.That supervision and monitoring unit of the Department checked these practices. But after the scrapping of DPR, no authority is monitoring and supervising these stations,” Adol regretted.
Adol’s position that no regulator has the authority to monitor and ensure that filling stations comply to standards and dispense accurate quantity to consumers may not be faulted given that the regulator saddled with this responsibility – the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) – seems to either be overwhelmed with other responsibilities such that it cannot pay attention to this, or that it has failed in its duties, or has become a lame-duck regulator.
At a major marketer’s filling station along Ojodu-Berger axis, in Lagos, last December, this reporter, upon noticing that petrol dispensed to him in a jerrycan did not equate the quantity it should be, threatened to report to the regulator. The Nation was, however, taken aback when the petrol attendant said: “Oga, don’t waste your time; you would only have helped lined their private pockets because their money is not more than N1 million when they come here and that is even if they come and it’s people like you that we will still recover the money we give them from.”
For over a month, efforts to get a response from the NMDPRA has been futile as a code of silence has enveloped the Authority on the enquiries sent by The Nation. In fact, it is now easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than getting clarifications on issues at the NMDPRA since the retirement of its former General Manager, Corporate Communications, Apollo Kimichi.
The most senior officer in the corporate communications unit, Seiyefa Osanebi, whom The Nation approached for response since last December, simply said: “The concerned directors were observing their Christmas and Year holiday.” Contacted again last Thursday, Osanebi said: “The directors were yet to provide me the information on the matter.”
Another motorist, Azomdu Bassey, recalled that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) used to monitor petrol stations to ensure their compliance with regulatory standard.
Bassey said: “At least, when NSCDC discharged that function, it helped consumers to a large extent. But with the scrapping of DPR and the inaction of NSCDC, consumers are at mercy of petroleum dealers.”
Bassey and Chris urged the Federal Government to establish an independent taskforce to check the sharp practices of petrol stations. “I suggest the establishment of Petrol Stations Monitoring Task Force by the Federal Government to protect consumer interest, especially in view of the high cost of fuel per litre,” Chris said.
For now, the filling stations and their attendants enjoy a free reign of exploiting the public, who have been left at their mercy.
