19 May 2016, Lagos – Nigerians are short-changed by as much as N1.74 billion every day from the purchase of PMS, otherwise known as petrol, by filling stations across the country due to under-dispensing of the product.
Investigation by Vanguard revealed that most petrol stations seem not to be satisfied with the hike in the pump price of petrol as majority of them are involved in under-dispensing of the commodity by as much as 30 percent to customers.
Based on statistics obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which estimated that daily consumption of petrol in Nigeria is 40 million litres, it means the stations under-dispense as much as 12 million litres of petrol to motorists daily.
At N145 per litre, this comes to N1.74 billion being paid by motorists for petrol that they are not served. File: NNPC Mega Filling Station File: NNPC Mega Filling Station
Most filling stations in FESTAC Town environ in Amuwo Odofin LGA in Lagos are particularly guilty of this. An independent investigation carried out in some of the stations show a shortage of between 25 and 30 per cent per litre of the product was recorded from each purchase made from the affected stations.
The major culprits include Mobil, Total and most of the independent markets, whenever they have the product. Even NNPC stations are not exempted from this sharp practice. Reports from other respondents showed that the experience was not different in other areas.
In fact, a staff of Vanguard Media Ltd who bought fuel of 20 litres at the company confirmed that when he used the same container to buy the same quantity at different filling stations, there was a shortfall of about 5 litres. Vanguard also observed in Abuja and environs, that a number of the petrol stations, though selling at N145 per litre, had manipulated their pumps, and were now defrauding motorists with incorrect measurements.