By Kunle Kalejaye
To curb sharp practices at filling stations within the Lagos metropolis, the Federal Government has threatened to sue any fraudulent outlet found cheating n consumers.

The Department of Weights and Measures under the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment head, Lagos office, issued the threats while addressing journalists in Lagos on the prospects and challenges confronting the department.

The Department led by one of its field officers, Mrs Crescentia Erukpeme, explained that the clamp down on filling stations in Lagos is with a view to sanitising fuel retailing business in the country, while assuring Nigerians that such clamp downs will become a regular feature to curb such sharp practices.

The Weights and Measures boss said her agency would not allow greedy local fuel dealers to short change Nigerians, noting that most of the filling stations visited adhered to the regulations.

She said, “I am happy that what the department has been agitating for over the years has started to yield good results, as most stations have commenced full compliance to weights and measures regulations.

“I want to state categorically that under my jurisdiction in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, the department was able to drag fraudulent marketers to court where they were panalised,” she confirmed.

Erukpeme said that the general inspection exercise of some filling stations within Lagos metropolis is to stop sharp practices unusually observed in some filling stations that were in the habit of under dispensing petroleum products to customers.

“We have recorded great success in most stations visited within Lagos lsland, lkeja, Agege, Somolu, Badagry, lkorodu, Maryland, Ebutte Metta, Ikoyi and Victoria Island, where they demonstrated total compliance with weights and measures standards.

She said the Department is empowered by law to monitor and control accurate measurements both in the upstream and downstream sectors of the petroleum industry.