The Director, Weights and Measures Department, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mohammed Sidi, says that oil dealers have been cheating Nigerians of N198,500 per truck sold.

Mr Sidi said this in Abuja on Wednesday during a surveillance activity of the department to some fuel stations.

He said that the action was to ensure that all commercial transactions involving the use of weights and measures were accurate, fair and legal.

“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,” Mr Sidi said.

At Forte Oil Station, Maitama, opposite Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, the team found that customers lost 0.5 litres of fuel in every 20 litres they bought.

The team sealed three of the dispensing pumps and collected their certificate of clarification.

“This is because the officials of Weights and Measures discovered that for every 20 litres of fuel dispensed to customers of the filling station, not less than 0.5 litres was found to be a shortage to customers.

“We have 33 litres in a truck and when for every 20 litres, it is short with 0.5 litres which means that in a truck they will be making a profit of N198,500 per truck,” Mr Sidi said.

The team also visited Forte Oil station at Ibrahim Babangida Boulevard, opposite National Universities Commission and found that customers were cheated by the same quantity of fuel.

The team sealed three dispensing pumps for oil and one for diesel.

At Dan Oil on Airport Road, the team found that customers lost 0.6 litres for every 20 litres bought and sealed three petrol pumps and one diesel pump.

At the filling station, the attendants quickly adjusted some pumps immediately they sighted the officials.

The managers at all the stations refused to comment.

The team also visited Mabushi District cement depot and certified bags of cement found in the place as having the right quantity.

The bags of cement checked were Bua, Dangote and Sokoto cement products.

The Chairman of the depot, Maxwell Nnamani, said that the depot always maintained standards and urged other dealers to do same.

Mr Nnamani said that although the issue of re-bagging had been a problem in the industry, it was being addressed.

The team also visited the 7UP Company at Idu Industrial Area to measure different products.

At ShopRite mall at the Jabi Lake, the team expressed satisfaction after measuring different products.

“We are happy because there is a lot of improvement from the non-oil sectors compared to what we witnessed before,’ Sidi said.

He appealed to members of the public report any suspected discrepancies by the products’ dealers to the department to enable it to do its job better. (NAN)