By Dada Ahmed in Okene
Motorists and other members of the public using fuel for their services have been told to stop accusing fuel dealers or attendants at the various filling stations in the country for shortchanging them in the sale of fuel.
A fuel dealer attached to one of the first generation of petroleum companies in the country, who wants his identity veiled,made the appeal in an interview with the correspondent of The Reporters, an online publication in Okene during weekend.
According to him, the real culprits were the drivers charged with the responsibility of delivering fuel to various stations throughout the country.
He said:” Rather than heaping blames on the dealers or attendants for cheating buyers of petroleum products, the attention should be directed at the drivers whose responsibility it is to deliver the consignment to the dealers.
He said: “Experience has shown that when these corrupt drivers take-off from from the depots with fuel, they usually engage in illegal sale of some quantity of the product on their way to various filling stations, thereby delivering short quantity to the dealers.
“The dealers on the other hand have signed the normal quantity of fuel with their company in which case they must deliver the correct amount of proceeds from the sale of the product to their company.
“The dilemma now falls on the dealers to find solution to the problem created by these drivers, hence, we have to adjust the machine to shortchange the buyers to make up for the short fall in the quantity of fuel delivered to us.
He said that many dealers might not like under dispensing fuel to buyers, but “it is part of the vicious circle of corruption that has eaten deep into the nation’s social and economic fabrics.
Meanwhile, transport fare has continued to hit the roof in the face of increasing price of fuel, cheating in various filling stations in Lokoja coupled with other factors such as skyrocketing prices of motor, tricycle (Kekenap) and motorcycle spare parts.
Investigation by our correspondent in shows that transport fare in the area has gone by about 20 per cent and higher, depending on the route, particularly on Kekenap and commercial motorcycles.
Mr Mathew Alabi, a Kekenap driver, lamented that the greater part of his proceeds, on a daily, usually go for fuel and in some cases, costly spare parts.
According to him, Kekenap drivers have also been subjected to all manner of revenue with the cumulative effect on their earnings.
“In this precarious situation we find ourselves, we cannot but jerk up our fares, if we must break even to float in this business, not to talk of making gains again,” he said.
The Reporters’ check on the two markets in lokoja showed that buyers have been paying through nose to purchase food and other none consumable items.
For instance, a sizeable measure of garri in yellow rubber,sold for N800 about a year ago, went for N1,400 as at the time of this report on Monday. The same trend go for other items as well as social services in the area.
Many of the sellers interviewed pinned down the genesis of high cost of food items to factors such as high cost of transportation and bad rural roads among others.
They called the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPS) to tighten its belt against the filling stations under dispensing fuel to customers, with a view to checking residual effects of such corrupt practises on the final consumers and ensure sanity in the oil sector of the economy.
