₦airaland Forum

Nigerians are reportedly losing over 200 Billion annually to under-dispensing of fuel by service attendants, fueling fears of accurate calibration of products in the country’s downstream sector.

The act also raises concerns over trust and transparency issues in the sector and its repeated assurances to protect fuel consumers in the country.

Government agencies have lately sanctioned stations for malfeasance, but observers said weak enforcement may have been responsible for seeming reduction in the practice in spite of efforts to nip in the bud.

The advent of unmanned fuel service stations is generating optimism that Nigeria can stop the billions of naira lost yearly to petrol under-dispensing.

Stakeholders in the downstream sector said the automated stations, which operate without pump attendants, rely on digitally calibrated pumps and cashless transactions to ensure accuracy in fuel dispensing.

They also said that removing human operators reduces the chances of manipulation, adding that real-time data transmission from the pumps to a central server will enable regulators to monitor activities remotely.

Sunbeth Energies Limited recently unveiled its first self-service fuel station at its Ogba outlet in Lagos, introducing a digital fueling experience that enables customers to initiate, monitor, and complete fuel purchases independently through a secure, user-friendly platfor[/b]m.

[b]Lateef Abioye, managing director of Sunbeth Energies Limited, explained that the launch represents a major milestone in the modernization of Nigeria’s downstream petroleum industry and reinforces Sunbeth Energies’ position as a leader in digital innovation, operational transparency, and customer-centric service delivery.

“By launching Nigeria’s first self-service fuel station, we are introducing a new standard of transparency, convenience, and customer empowerment. Every customer deserves to know exactly what they are paying for, and this innovation gives them that confidence.”

One of the first customers to use the new system described the experience as both reassuring and refreshingly simple.

“I have never experienced anything like this at a fuel station in Nigeria. Being able to control the entire process myself and watch every litre being dispensed gave me complete confidence. It was easy to use, fast, and transparent.”

According to Abioye, the Ogba deployment marks the beginning of a broader digital transformation strategy that will be extended across Sunbeth Energies’ retail network.

Auwalu Abdullahi Rano (AA Rano) Nigeria Limited, owned by Alhaji Auwalu Abdullahi Rano, had also unveiled 24-hour unmanned fuel stations in partnership with Petrosoft Limited, a Nigerian technology firm that developed management systems for the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.

The company’s first unmanned fuel-dispensing stations are digitalised and equipped with smart pumping technology that enables payments without the use of fuel attendants by motorists and customers.

Alhaji Auwalu Abdullahi Rano, a business mogul in the oil and gas sector, stated that, “The self-dispensing fuel pumps with instant payment are being launched in partnership with Petrosoft Limited, a Nigerian technology firm that developed management systems for the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.

He said the stations will depend on contactless payment systems, real-time surveillance technology and automated fuel pumps, thereby removing the need for pump attendants at the stations.

It was learnt that the automated fuel station technology is being deployed across A.A. Rano’s 200 retail outlets nationwide, including border communities with Niger, Chad, Benin and Cameroon.

The technology is designed to reduce the loss of man-hours at fuel stations, improve transparency and assure customers that they are receiving the exact volume of fuel dispensed for what they have paid.

The Chief Executive Officer of Petrosoft Limited, Dr. Joshua Denila, said the digitalised fuel dispensing and payment project demonstrates how home-grown technology can overcome the myriad challenges in Nigeria’s retail fuel market.

Daily Trust reports that some stakeholders have picked holes in the launch of unmanned fuel stations, stressing that the development could create massive unemployment in the country.

Petrol station attendants under the Concerned Petrol Station Workers, faulted the full automated, unmanned filling stations.

Its convener, Comrade Ibrahim Zango, said the initiative could strip many young Nigerians employed as fuel attendants of their source of income.

He added that the move was ill-timed, considering the nation’s ongoing economic difficulties and growing unemployment rate.

He implored stakeholders to consider the human cost of the innovation, stressing that thousands of families depend on earnings from petrol station jobs.

Many of the attendants, he said, had spent decades in the job and deserved better treatment than being displaced without a clear transition plan, insisting that advancement should not come at the expense of workers’ welfare.

He maintained that automation in the downstream petroleum sector should be tailored to open up new opportunities rather than wipe out existing employment.

Observers cautioned that challenges such as poor power supply, network failure, maintenance, and job displacement for attendants must be addressed.

“This is very necessary in order to avoid unsettled effects in the country’s downstream sector which had enjoyed relative stability in the last few years.

There should be a level playing ground to strike a balance between automation and Human element in the sector,” Mr. Rasheed Adeleke, an energy analyst, told Daily Trust.

Stakeholders posited that the gain of the model hugely depends on NMDPRA having reasonable access to live pump data and enforcing wielding the big sticke where necessary.

Officials of the regulatory agency confirmed they are measuring and monitoring the technology with a view to improving transparency and consumer protection in the downstream sector.

Sparklewy:
Seyi Makinde for President come 2027

Inshallah 🙏

EniHolar:
I first saw 'self-service' before other words.

This is a good innovation, if it lasts, so that it won't be a waste of money and idea. Just pray make light dey when you enter there.

JohnAOne:
SW: the best side

God bless Lagos.

God bless Yorubaland.

AMEN 🙏🏾

Sparklewy:
Seyi Makinde for President come 2027

Inshallah 🙏

mkpologwu:
Why plenty talk and long narrative dey always follow self-service 🙄??

saintopus:
It's a fantastic development. It has worked in sane climes let's see how it works here in Nigeria.

InvertedHammer:
/
It is by far better than Enugu.

500 gallons of water go for N20k. Multiply by 4 in a month, that's N80k. By extrapolation, that's N960k in a year on water alone. Why? Because the governor believes that clean and accessible water is the least of his worries. Yet they prance around like Enugu is Abuja even though the red muddy soil will have residents looking like they went tomb-raiding at night.

But then, considering where it was before Peter Mba, one can understand the accolades being that he moved the town from 16th Century to 17th Century but not anywhere near 20th Century. 21st Century is a stretch. EEDC? The worst of all.

/

fergie001:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5v-F81hNTs

The Permanent Secretary, Office of Drainage Services and Water Resources in Lagos State, Mahmood Adegbite, has said that people drilling borehole in the Lekki axis of the state is probably drinking ‘’shit water.”

While speaking at a stakeholders meeting in the state recently, Adegbite noted that contaminated boreholes in Lekki pose health risk and added that treatment of waste water would eradicate any form of disease that may arise from it.

He said, “On waste water treatment, I will say that everyone digging borehole within the Lekki axis is probably drinking what I will call ‘shit water.’

https://punchng.com/video-everyone-digging-borehole-in-lekki-is-probably-drinking-shit-water-lagos-govt/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwMABDJjbGNrAwAEK2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAAEewOd7728C0FSKQJNWar4yKRxNpNKt1owSlw47y57FKAux2QxvQL24Iu18rtw_aem_3kB5Sd2GjpdqjN6zFuIs7w

Menclothing1:
Thus is a good development very soon others will copy it takes one person to start first