The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has ordered filling stations nationwide to immediately calibrate and verify their fuel dispensers and totalisers. This move comes as the Authority intensifies inspections and enforcement activities due to incidents of under-dispensing of petroleum products at retail outlets. The NMDPRA has warned that persistent or serious violations could attract sanctions, including revocation of operating licences.
Under-dispensing is not just a technical irregularity, but a deliberate act of taking money from consumers for products they did not receive. A motorist who pays for 20 litres but receives 18 litres has effectively been deprived of the value of two litres. At ₦1,400 per litre in Lagos and Abuja, and ₦1,500 in some northern locations, every litre matters. Families are adjusting household budgets to accommodate transportation and energy costs, making petrol price reverberations throughout the economy.
The NMDPRA's directive is welcome, but warnings are not enough. The Authority should go beyond directing filling stations to calibrate their own equipment. Independent verification is indispensable. The Authority has previously taken enforcement action, sealing 11 filling stations in Rivers State in February and two stations in Ogun State in July for infractions including under-dispensing and failed pumps.
To deter under-dispensing, the NMDPRA should institute continuous, unannounced inspections of filling stations across the country. Inspectors should arrive without prior notification, conduct standard volumetric tests on randomly selected pumps, and document the results electronically. Stations should not know when inspectors are coming or which pumps will be tested. Predictability defeats the purpose of surveillance.
There should be graduated but consequential sanctions for filling stations found under-dispensing. An accidental calibration problem identified and promptly corrected need not be treated in exactly the same manner as deliberate pump manipulation or repeated under-dispensing. Repeat offenders should be suspended, and persistent or egregious offenders should lose their licences.
Enforcement should also be transparent, with the NMDPRA periodically publishing the number of stations inspected, the number found compliant, and the sanctions imposed. Consumers deserve to know which businesses have been found taking their money without supplying the corresponding quantity of product. An accessible consumer-reporting mechanism should also be established to enable motorists to report suspected under-dispensing.
The NMDPRA has an obligation to protect the people purchasing petroleum products, not merely to regulate the industry. The Authority should make pump verification a permanent feature of downstream regulation, backed by surprise inspections, credible sanctions, transparent reporting, and easy consumer complaints. Filling stations that systematically steal from consumers should be shut down and, where appropriate, have their licences revoked.
Key points
- The NMDPRA has warned that persistent or serious violations of under-dispensing could attract sanctions, including revocation of operating licences.
- The Authority should institute continuous, unannounced inspections of filling stations across the country to deter under-dispensing.
- Enforcement should be transparent, with the NMDPRA periodically publishing the number of stations inspected and sanctions imposed.
