Department of Weight and Measures Seeks Relevance in Oil Sector

After successfully stamping its feet in Abuja, Lagos and some other parts of the country by clamping down on filling stations which engage in sharp practices, especially those that are under- dispensing fuel to customers, the Department of Weights and Measures (DWM) under the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investments has called for support from the Federal Government in other to be able to carry out its duties efficiently.

After successfully stamping its feet in Abuja, Lagos and some other parts of the country by clamping down on filling stations which engage in sharp practices, especially those that are under- dispensing fuel to customers, the Department of Weights and Measures (DWM) under the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investments has called for support from the Federal Government in other to be able to carry out its duties efficiently.
According to the Head of the department in Lagos, Mrs Crescentia Erukpeme, many people are just hearing about the department for the first time, she said that it is the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) that is known by many as the regulator.
She however explained that the department has a constitutional role in the monitoring and controlling of accurate measures both in the upstream and the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.       
….This, according to her has been provided for in the pre-shipment inspection of export Act cap P25 of 1996 which empowers the weight and measures department to work with other agencies at terminals to oversee and ascertain accuracy in quantities to be exported.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Shipping Position Daily correspondent gathered that in other to keep to this law, the officers of the departments’ Lagos office recently started beaming its search light on filling stations in some parts of Lagos including; Badagry, Agege, Lagos island, Ikorodu, Ikeja, Ikoyi, Victoria Island, among others to ensure that their flow meter pumps are working accurately.
The department has however called for government’s support in order to carry out its job effectively.
Mrs. Erukpeme said that “it appears we have been neglected, we need operational vehicles and most of our equipment has worn out, we need to put all these in place to make the department more functional and effective” he said
“And we also appeal to the federal government to assist our workers by organizing both local and international training programs for us”
According to her, the department has not played its role very well due to some bottlenecks created by some agencies that were there before the appointment of department of weights and measures as one of the inspecting agents.
She has also threaten that the department will not spare any filling station or depot that is using substandard measures to sell products, she said that suck companies will be prosecuted and that their practicing license will be revoked.
She explained that these offenses are punishable under sections 7 and 30 of the weights and measures Act of 2004.