Barbara Bako, Abuja
There was confusion on Wednesday in some areas of Abuja as the Federal Government sealed some filling stations for under dispensing of fuel to their customersp. The enforcement team from Weights and Measures Department in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment sealed two filing stations belonging to Forte oil and one belonging to Dan Oil among others.
The Forte oil filling stations sealed are those located in Wuse District in Abuja and the one located on Ibrahim Babangida Road. For Dan Oil, the station sealed is the one located in Lugbe, Abuja. The closure was carried out following an investigation by an enforcement team from the ministry which established that the filling station were short-changing their customers. The enforcement team was led by the Director, Weights and Measures Department, Sidi Mohammed.
Some of the stations who got wind of the enforcement exercise were quick to shut their stations, while others quickly re-adjusted their pumps to reflect the exact fuel gauge. Addressing journalists during the exercise, he said the move became imperative owing to series of complaints made by consumers of petroluem products. For instance, he said that the pumps in Dan Oil Lugbe were sealed for under-dispensing of petrol. He said, “We have given them an invitation to come and give their own side of the story. The management of that station will come and give us in writing why that error is going on there. It is a systematic type of short measuring because the errors of all of them are identical based on our findings.
“So it cannot just be a coincidence that all of them will be having the same error outcome. So there are more investigations that is going to be carried out.” Mohammed said while the rate of compliance has improved, some others have yet to comply with the weights and measures Act. “We advise consumers to be mindful of this weights and measures department. We need their support in terms of people telling us what they have observed of whatever transpired between them and a seller of a commodity. “If you are cheated or you felt short-changed, just come over let us Investigate the issue,” he added.
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