13 August 2013, Lagos – Oando Marketing Plc, a subsidiary of Oando Group, is repositioning its fuel retailing with the construction of mega filling stations across the country.
The petroleum marking company, last year changed the face of fuel retailing with the building of 10 mega stations in mega cities. The stations built in accordance with global trends in petroleum product retailing are strategically spread across the country.
Chief Operating Officer, COO, Oando Marketing, Mrs. Olaposi Williams, said the company plans to roll out 10 mega stations every year in the next five years. She said the mega stations operate with high speed pumps that dispense fuel to customers in about five minutes.
According to Williams, the company had about 1,000 petrol stations in the past, but plans to slash the number to only about 500. The stations, she added, would be upgraded to mega stations in line with the company’s objective of delivering quality serve to its esteem customers.
“What matters is not the number of filling stations, but the quality of service. Our mega stations operate with high speed pumps. With this modern equipment, it takes the customer only about five minutes to fuel his car.”
She said beyond the regular business of selling petroleum products, the mega stations were designed to serve as one-stop retail outlets adequately equipped to offer motorists a wide range of quality services and convenience.
The stations according the COO will provide customers a wide range of product and service offerings. For fuel, customers will be served from any of the high speed fuel dispensing pumps installed at the station.
On how the company plans to check sharp practices that characterise fuel retail business in Nigeria, especially under dispensing of petrol, the COO said the company’s retail controllers monitor activities at petrol stations to ascertain the integrity of the pumps and to ensure there is no under dispensing of products.
“Our core value in Oando is integrity. It is what sustains our business and brand. We have retail controllers who monitor all our petrol stations. They check the integrity of the pumps and ensure that there is no under dispensing of products. Again, we don’t tolerate sharp practices and we stop any dealer caught cheating our customers.”
Williams stated that the company also has policies that guide all its pumps and any dealer who fails to comply with them is sanctioned. Some of the mega stations owned by the company are located in Marina, Maryland, Lekki, Berger on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Abuja.
– This Day