The management of SAO Petroleum Company has issued a statement, warning its employees across Nigeria to refrain from engaging in sharp practices against customers which may undermine the image of the company before the general public.
The statement, made available to newsmen on Friday and signed by the Managing Director, Oil & Gas, SAO Petroluem, Mr Adewumi Oladiti, said the company has a strict standing rule against any form of cheating by fuel attendants, adding that none of the employees has authority to tamper with fuel pump meters, as it is centrally controlled.
Reacting to an article written by a customer who narrated his experience in the hands of one of the fuel attendants of the petroleum company in Ibadan, with the allegation that he was shortchanged by the attendant, Oladiti said the company is strictly against such behavior as whoever among the employees caught perpetuating any fraudulent act does will be sacked immediately.
The article, written by one Alhazan Abiodun Rilwan and published by Inside Oyo, among other online newspapers on Thursday 17th August remarked that a particular fuel attendant at one of SAOs station in Ibadan manipulated the nozzle triggers to eject air into his car tank instead of fuel, leading to shortage in the amount of fuel purportedly sold to him.
Oladiti added that the case is under investigation while the culprit will be sanctioned to send strong signal to other employees that might want to attempt such criminal act in the future.
“We are an organization with strict rules against all forms of underhand dealings that can negatively affect our customers and impugn on our image, which we have built overtime, our pumps are centrally controlled across Nigeria by dedicated experts and none of our station employees has access to the pump meters to tamper with them.
“We have always been known by those in the industry for our diligence and the general public for playing the game according to the rules, we do not condone any of our employees to cheat on our customers and we are using this opportunity to warn fuel attendants under SAO Petroleum not to do anything to tarnish the good image of the organization.”
The management went further to issue a special phone line; 07047304000 for customers to reach the management of the company in the occasion of any grievance or to register their complaints while their employees are offering their services.
He called on the Nigerian government to urgently find solutions to the hardship confronting Nigerians as a result of the removal of oil subsidy which he said has affected the purchasing power of lots of citizens.
