The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has declared its intent to impose sanctions on fuel stations found tampering with petroleum pumps.
This announcement was made by Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive of NMDPRA, during an interactive session with commissioners of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) in Abuja.
Ahmed emphasized that petrol stations caught dispensing fuel using adjusted fuel pumps would face severe penalties, including the revocation of operating licenses, operational suspensions, or even complete shutdowns, depending on the seriousness of the violation.
“What we are doing now is that we have some of our staff going round to take on-the-spot checks of some of the petrol stations. If you drive into a station and drive out, you will not know if you have been cheated until you do a measurement.
“Sometimes, we do a physical measurement where we go to some stations and buy one litre and look at that environment to see whether that one litre is really one litre. Then we will know whether or not they have tampered with the pump,” he said.
The NMDPRA boss said that the authority would continue to collaborate with RMAFC to generate more revenue for the federation.
“We have started the engagement, but this is just a formal collaboration on areas where we can improve revenue generation for the federation. There are two areas we have to look at, which are either to generate revenue or cut costs,” he said.
He called on citizens to invest in the midstream sector of the economy, saying: “For example, if you want to build a gas plant, come to us; we will give you the guidelines and the policies, and you will come and invest. The area you want to invest in will determine the cost of investment; the investment opportunities are there.”
RMAFC chairman, Mr Bello Shehu, said the purpose of engagement between both organisations was to strengthen their partnership.