Sept. 2, 2023

The Petroleum Products Retail Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), says it will continue to ensure that the distribution process of petroleum products to retail outlets is not compromised.

Mr. Francis Dimkpa, the Chairman, Rivers Chapter of the body said this in Port Harcourt while reacting to a viral video of pump attendants caught in the act of cheating.

He said that as part of efforts to unravel the perpetrators in the viral video, the union had set up a surveillance team in collaboration with the Rivers State Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.

“Upon conclusion of our investigation, it was gathered that the entire scenario was actually a deliberate action by two pump attendants in one of the Oando outlets newly acquired by NNPC (not an NNPC Mega Station) in Port Harcourt.

“The alleged pump attendants had resorted to cheating both management and customers of the station by shortchanging them,” he said.

Dimkpa also said that management of the alleged station had relieved the culprits of their jobs.

“Henceforth, we have mandated our team to increase surveillance, focusing more on the activities of pump attendants because we cannot afford to allow some greedy staff continue to cheat our customers and even our stations.

“We are so far satisfied with efforts of the state government through the commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources and the Nigerian Police for their prompt interventions.

“We also want to assure the public that the dealer of the alleged fuel station had no hand in all of the anomalies especially seeing that the culprits have since been dismissed by the station’s management,” he said.

Meanwhile, a staff in the alleged NNPC outlet who pleaded anonymity had denied the allegation attributing the anomaly to faulty pump nozzle on the dispense metres, but however, confirmed dismissal of indicated staff.

Some customers have called for more stringent penalties for retail stations contravening stipulated operational guidelines. (NAN)