Consumers of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol, have raised the alarm over a new trend adopted by fuel retailers to cheat consumers.
The motorists, in separate interviews, alleged that most filling stations have tampered with their meters in a bid to exploit and rip-off consumers.
According to them, the bad business practice which is not new in the downstream sector appears to have grown worse in the face of the current fuel scarcity. They alleged that filling stations operated by some major oil marketers have joined in this bad business practice, thus forcing consumers to pay more for the quantity of fuel bought.
A consumer, who identified himself as Shile Giwa, said a filling station operated by a major marketer on Charity Road, in Abule-Egba area in Lagos, is known to be notorious for the dubious act of cheating consumers.
Narrating his ordeal, Giwa said he was at the filling on Tuesday morning to fill his 30 litre jerry can with petrol, but that to his surprise, the price on the dispensing machine read N6, 000 and this, he said, triggered an argument. According to him, he said the same jerry can usually cost him N5, 100 in some other filling stations selling at the same rate of N170 per litre.
Another consumer, Tinuade Oyekale, said the experience of Giwa has been rampant lately, as filling stations deceive consumers that they are selling at N170 per litre as displayed on their dispensing machine while in actual fact, the rate is N200 per litre. ‘I am not against filling stations selling above the approved retail price because we all know what they are going through at the depot. But let them change their meter price to their actual selling price instead of deceiving members of the public”, she lamented.
Oyekale said that she has been a victim of such bad business practice on several occasions citing filling stations operated by some major marketers; most especially the ones by independent marketers are the major culprits. She said her advice was for consumers to patronize major brands, especially filling stations operated by NNPCL since major marketers which used to be the pride of consumers have joined those inflicting pains on Nigerians.
In a related development, the National Operations Controller of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mike Osatuyi, has warned that the fuel scarcity across major parts of the country might linger into the New Year and beyond if urgent steps were not taken by the relevant authorities to address the supply hiccup.
Osatuyi in a telephone interview said in a situation where demand outweighs supply, such a situation was expected.
He reiterated that the only solution to the current crisis was for the Federal Government to deregulate the sector to enable more players to come into the industry.
