The Weights and Measures Department, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has sealed three dispensing pumps at the NNPC Mega Filling Station in Wuse, Abuja for shortchanging customers.
A statement by the Information Officer in the ministry, Funmilayo Oloyinde in Abuja on Wednesday, said that the action was to ensure that all commercial transactions involving the use of weights and measures were accurate, fair and legal.
The statement quoted Mr Sidi Sada, the Acting Director, Weights and Measures in the ministry as saying “every weighing equipment in all sectors of the economy, whether Oil and Gas or non- Oil and Gas must be up to the required standard.
“Three dispensing pumps of the well-patronised NNPC Mega Filling Station in Wuse had to be sealed up.
“This is because the officials of Weights and Measures discovered that for every 20 litres of fuel dispensed to customers of the filling station, no less than 35 litres was found to be a shortage to customers,’’ he said.
Sada said that an inspection team of the department visited some filling stations in the Central Business District following complaints received from members of the public.
He said that at Oando Filling Station at Wuse Zone 1, opposite NDE Headquarters, the team discovered that the weighing scale in the gas plant was over-weighing.
Sada said that invariably, customers were being short changed by three kilogrammes and so the plant was immediately sealed off.
The team also visited the Nigerian Bottling Company, Julius Berger Construction Company, Dangote Cement Depot, all at Iju Industrial Estate and some filling stations among others.
Sada said that at Dangote Cement Depot, some of the bags of cement were over weighed and some were under weighed.
Mrs Halima Ibrahim, the Inventory Officer of the company explained that the bags of cement on ground were for promos and not for sale.
Sada and his team expressed satisfaction with the weight and measures scale at Julius Berger, while at the Nigeria Bottling Company they were prevented from gaining access to the premises.
He said that legal proceedings may be instituted against the Nigeria Bottling Company for evasion of payment of the legal remissions in respect of weights and measures facility in its premises by the Legal Unit of the Ministry.
Sada said that at A.U.A Plaza, the team inspected the bagging of rice being sold.
He said that the team weighed some bags through random sampling and a number of bags were found to be under-weighed, but the local branded rice was found to be in order.
Sada said that the exercise was a routine one, as it would give Nigerians the assurance that the Federal Government was out to ensure that the citizens got value for their money.
He said that the department was out to ensure that there was sanity in weights and measures used in the markets.
According to him, erring manufactures or sellers as well as retailers who cheat in terms of quantity will be dealt with according to the law.
