Meter scam: Fuel attendants, drivers in battle of wits

As fuel availability fluctuates, the few who attempt to fill their tanks often encounter not just long queues and inflated prices, but also the blunt reality of exploitation at filling stations where rigged nuzzles and altered meters turn a simple act of refuelling into a frustrating encounter, BABATUNDE TITILOLA reports

He sighed deeply. Waves of worry covered his face as sweat trickled down from his dark forehead. Yekini Ismaila has been driving his tricycle for over nine hours. His look showed a mix of emotions – tiredness and frustration. Ismaila could only mumble to respond to his passengers’ questions.

Every morning, he sets out to work, picking up passengers along the Magboro-Akeran Road in the Akeran town of Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.

The little he makes for the day is barely enough to feed his family. He also has to set aside an amount to pay as instalments for the tricycle at the end of every week.
The 36-year-old got the second-hand tricycle through a hire-purchase agreement in February 2024. This agreement means he and his family are in debt for a period until payment for the tricycle is completed.

Apart from the struggle to balance his family’s welfare and the hire-purchase commitment, Ismaila’s experience as a commercial driver is affected by fuel scarcity, increasing prices, and bad road networks.

“It is as if the fuel disappears immediately after they pump it,” Ismaila groaned as he manoeuvred the potholes on the road. “I pay N7,500 in instalments every week. It is a lot.”
In the last one year, Nigeria has faced fuel scarcity which is often followed by hikes in fuel prices. Ismaila, who was a motorcycle rider in Lagos State before a ban affected the business, did not know the situation of fuel would become worse. After enduring a few months of hunger in Lagos, he moved his family to Ogun in the hope of a better life.

But as reality stared in his face that Thursday afternoon, Ismaila could not help but share his deepest worries about the exploitation at filling stations.

He said, “I have a family to care for, a tricycle to repair, and instalments to pay. I used to notice that the petrol we pay for is not what they usually sell. But to get down from your vehicle, empty your tank, and measure the petrol they sell is hard. These days, I buy petrol inside a keg to measure the quantity. I can also monitor how much fuel this keke consumes.”

Sunday PUNCH investigated Ismaila’s claim and discovered widespread manipulation of fuel dispensers and tampering with meters in many filling stations.

Between July 16 and August 4, this reporter visited different filling stations in Lagos and Ogun states to buy the same amount of fuel.

Using kegs of the same sizes, it was discovered that the quantity of fuel was not the same – one keg had more fuel compared to the other.

This showed that some filling stations prioritised profit over integrity. Fuel pumps, designed to deliver precise measurements, are being rigged to shortchange consumers, leaving them with less fuel than they pay for.
This manipulation places an additional financial burden on families already grappling with the economic hardship in the country.

Fuel attendant’s tricks

For years, Ishola Ojetunde did not trust the filling stations along the Berger-Interchange route of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Despite plying the route four times a week to deliver retail goods or drop passengers, he was always prepared not to have a reason to drive into any filling station along that road.

But one day, the scarcity of fuel gave him no choice. He needed to refuel his bus on his way to the interchange, and he drove into a filling station in Asese.

“I bought only N15,000 worth of fuel because I didn’t trust their filling station around here,” Ojetunde told Sunday PUNCH. “I knew I had to buy fuel when coming back from Interchange and was going to buy more when I got to Berger on my way to Ketu in Lagos.

“So, I parked by the filling station and told the lady to fill N15,000 worth of petrol. Immediately, a girl selling plantain chips came to my side and started talking to me about buying chips. While we were talking, the petrol attendant just said that she was done. I was shocked but since I was not looking, I could not argue.”

About 20 minutes later after Ojetunde continued his journey to deliver goods at the interchange, his vehicle started showing signs of low fuel.
“I was very angry but could not turn back,” he added.

The following day, Ojetunde, while commuting passengers along the same route on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, returned to the filling station to report the attendant to a manager.

When he met the attendant to inquire what had happened the previous day, the lady, sensing Ojetunde’s angry look pleaded with him to temper justice with mercy.

“I asked her if she would fill the remaining fuel she stole the previous day or if I should report to her manager that she stole my fuel and defrauded me.

“I told her that I knew that the girl selling chips was talking to me to distract me from monitoring the machine.

“When she saw that I was serious, she started begging that I should not report her. She pleaded that she would give me N5,000 worth of fuel,” Ojetunde told Sunday PUNCH.

Ojetunde wanted to ask for more but the attendant pleaded that she had used the money for “an emergency” and would not be able to cover the cost. The passengers intervened during this argument and pleaded with Ojetunde to pardon the attendant.
Unlike him, there are several fuel buyers, on a daily basis, who are tricked into paying for more than they get.

Findings further showed that fuel attendants sometimes fake ignorance to distract customers from realising manipulations.

Fake over-selling

Most drivers who spoke with Sunday PUNCH disclosed that they do not monitor the meters during refuelling. While all of them claimed they had experienced exploitation at some point, most only discovered it a little too late after leaving the filling stations.

Findings by Sunday PUNCH showed that one of the ways fuel stations exploit drivers is to oversell. The attendant intentionally allows the meter to read beyond the amount the driver wants to buy. Much to their surprise, only air is being pumped into the tank but the driver is forced to pay for the extra quantity the meter reads.

In the afternoon of Thursday, July 11, 2024, this reporter entered a bus plying the interstate route from Ikeja, Lagos to Sagamu in Ogun. The driver, Ibrahim, decided to refill his tank at a filling station along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

At the point of refuelling, the conversation between the driver and the male attendant revealed that there was an unfinished business between them.
“This is not the first time you (the attendant) would sell fuel for me and you know how much I usually buy,” the driver said in a harsh tone. His expression had changed from the calm driver the passengers knew to an agitated man. His voice reflected the frustration he must have suffered.

Ibrahim and the attendant continued the conversation about an attempt to defraud over the payment for the purchase of diesel the previous day. The atmosphere was tense as neither Ibrahim nor the young attendant was ready to agree with each other.

On Wednesday, July 10, Ibrahim had entered the filling station to purchase N10,000 worth of diesel. However, a few seconds later, during the refuelling, he discovered that the meter was reading a discharge of 13 litres of diesel.
“He (the attendant) heard me clearly when I said N10,000 worth of diesel,” Ibrahim told Sunday PUNCH.

“When I told him that the machine was reading 13 litres, he just said ‘okay’, but did not seem surprised. When it reached 17 litres, he stopped it and said he was sorry. He said he inputted 40 litres instead of pressing N10,000 as the price of diesel I wanted to buy.”

Ibrahim paid for N10,000 worth of diesel and promised to pay the remaining amount the next day if the diesel served him as 17 litres of fuel would.

“That was not my first time buying diesel there and he is my usual attendant so he agreed. I monitored the fuel as I was driving and noticed that the diesel he pumped could never be up to 17 litres. I know how my bus consumes 10 litres of diesel. I could say that what he sold for me was a lie,” the commercial driver narrated.
While the disagreement continued that Thursday afternoon, Ibrahim bought another diesel worth N7,000, and paid immediately. After some back and forth, Ibrahim said he was not going to pay for the remaining litres of diesel from the previous day as he was sure that the attendant wanted to defraud him.

As more eyes were beginning to converge and more ears seemed interested in the disagreement, the attendant finally surrendered and allowed Ibrahim to leave.

The driver continued to lament as he drove out to the expressway, receiving sympathy from passengers who shared in his frustration.

“I have heard cases like that before. He thought he could cheat me because I am a regular there and I wouldn’t notice. I gave him my phone number.

“He was calling me late in the night yesterday (Wednesday) to ask for the money. He was not ready to listen to my explanation so I stopped picking up his calls. My wife was very angry. Why would I pay for something I didn’t use,” the driver added.

Like drivers, like homeowners

For the next few minutes after Ibrahim resumed his journey, some of his passengers took turns to share their experiences with attendants who either attempted to cheat them or successfully did.
Twenty-seven year-old Boluwatife Olaniyi works with a marketing company in Victoria Island, Lagos. Three days a week, she works from home. She does not trust Ikeja Electric to provide electricity for the number of hours she is expected to use her electronic gadgets. So, she is a regular in the filling stations near her home in the Iyana-Oworo area of Oworonshoki, Lagos.

Despite being a known customer in two filling stations close to her home, Olaniyi has been a victim of exploitation several times. Many of these times, she discovered the corrupt practices of the fuel attendants and reported them.

“Maybe because I buy fuel from them every time. They think it would be easy to cheat me. Since I discovered that they pump air into the keg, I started taking a clean transparent keg.

“I will monitor the flow, especially whenever the attendant presses something on the nuzzle that changes the sound of the machine,” the marketer said.

Olaniyi is only one of millions of Nigerians who fall prey to dubious tricks in filling stations. Sunday PUNCH findings revealed that fuel consumers in rural areas are the most cheated as they are not aware they can be cheated at filling stations.

Tradition of paying more for little

Checks by our correspondent revealed that for years, consumers have fallen victim to these exploitative practices at fuel stations, where the manipulation of fuel pumps and meters has become too common.
Findings showed that despite occasional regulatory crackdowns, these fraudulent activities persist, revealing a troubling pattern that stretches back over a decade.

The Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency, on February 23, 2022, shut four filling stations in Anambra State over suspected delivery of methanol-contaminated Premium Motor Spirit at the outlets.

On March 17, 2021, the Department of Petroleum Resources’ Zonal Operations Controller, Abubakar Buba, led a team of officers to seal eight fuel stations in the Federal Capital Territory for hoarding, adulteration, and under-dispensing of fuel amid the scarcity and high cost of Premium Motor Spirit during that period.

Likewise, 11 illegal gas plants and two filling stations in the Karimo, Gwagwa, Games Village Kuje and Gwagwalada areas of the Federal Capital Territory were sealed on September 16, 2021, for sharp practices including illegal operations.

On August 27, 2019, the Port Harcourt Zone of the agency sealed at least 55 fuel stations in six weeks after discovering that the outlets were hoarding, overpricing, and under-dispensing petroleum products.

Experts blame regulatory failure

An energy law professor at the University of Dundee, UK, Dayo Ayoade, said manipulation in fuel sales was a problem in the petroleum sector.
He noted that the sector had been left largely unsupervised by relevant agencies which afforded filling stations and unscrupulous attendants the opportunity to prey on customers without fear of prosecution.

“Meter tampering and manipulation in fuel sales have been long-standing issues in the downstream sector. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority is supposed to regulate and supervise the sector. However, it has not been done effectively,” Ayoade said.

The professor explained that the economic condition of the country further increased the exploitation consumers suffered in the hands of filling stations as managers would rather make more money cheating buyers than suffer losses due to an unstable economy.

Ayoade noted that there was a need for better oversight by NMDPA and that the authority could employ the use of whistleblowers who would covertly monitor situations across filling stations and report their findings.

He added, “Consumers must continue to complain and ensure that their voices are heard. It is time that the NMDPA is held to account as consumer exploitation is part and parcel of public anger at high fuel prices.”

A consultant in the energy sector, George Nwogu, attributed the exploitation and corruption in fuel sales to lack of transparency. He said, “The problem in this case is corruption in the midstream and the downstream sector, and the number one issue is transparency. Another thing is if the regulators are not properly monitoring the distribution and sale of petroleum products, whatever we do will have no effect.”

Nwogu added that relevant authorities should also establish secure and anonymous channels for reporting corruption and provide strong protection for whistleblowers that would allow people to make complaints against corrupt practices in the fuel distribution system without the fear of being hunted.
Authorities unreachable

The Deputy Director of Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Petroleum, Oluwakemi Ogunmakinwa, told this reporter to submit his findings to the Weight and Measure Department under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment.

“They are the ones monitoring and regulating sales and distribution so that sellers do not exploit consumers,” she added.

The Director of the Department of Weights and Measures, Olajide Adesuyi, said the department was aware of consumer exploitation in filling stations adding that efforts were on to fight against the menace.

Olajide, however, said this reporter should officially reach out to the ministry to get further information.

Mails sent to the ministry were not responded to as of press time. The contact numbers of the department were also not reachable.