The Weights and Measures Department, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has hailed the signing of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) but observed that certain clauses in the Act are in conflict with its mandates.
Director of the department, Mr Hassan Ejibunu, made this known on Wednesday in Abuja at a meeting with top management staff members, Zonal and State Coordinators of the department.
The meeting was organised to discuss pertinent issues towards the performance of the department’s mandate as outlined in all legal instruments guiding legal Metrology in Nigeria.
The Petroleum Industry Act was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on Aug. 16, 2021 and provides legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian petroleum industry, the development of host communities and related matters.
However, the director noted that certain clauses in the act were considered not to be in consonance with the department’s mandate, especially the pre-shipment inspection activities at the crude oil terminals.
“Most of us are apprehensive over certain clauses in the Act that are considered to be in conflict with the mandate of Weight and Measures Department, especially the pre-shipment inspection activities at the crude oil terminals.
“The ministry, under the current leadership is working assiduously to bring those issues up that would give room to the amendment of the PIA.
“This is to ensure that the mandates of the department as given in item 65 of the Nigerian constitution and other legal instruments are not tampered with.
“We are confident that Mr President will endorse the amendments to the PIA as being proposed by the ministry,” he said.
Ejibunu, while commending the pragmatic step taken to ensuring that the Act finally came to light said it would change the face of oil and gas business positively in Nigeria.
He further noted that the ministry had made some giant strides to ensuring that its field offices had the wherewithal to do their work.
He said it included approval for the purchace of 14 operational vehicles which would be allocated to state offices to enhance their performance.
This, he said, would ameliorate the problems being encountered while going on field assignments.
In addition, he said states and zonal offices would benefit from funds out of the retention fees of the revenue generated by the department to aid in the running of their offices.
Similarly, he said some office equipment were procured and should be distributed to the needy offices.
With all these steps taken by the leadership of the ministry, he urged the field offices to redouble their efforts to surpass in three folds their capacities in revenue generation as marching order was given to them to boost revenue.
Chairman, Zonal Coordinators Forum, Weights and Measures Department, Mr Labaran Rabiu, said logistics, welfare and litigational challenges in terms of prosecution of defaulters that were not tackled before had been resolved due to the intervention of the minister.
“We enforce law, we make sure that both consumers and sellers comply with certain laws of the nation, so that customers and sellers are not surcharged.
“This is while making sure that instruments used for weighing and measurements comply with tolerance level allowing by law.
“In case of default, then, we have a court case against you, for contravening the weights and measures law,” he said
He called for synergy with government and private bodies to enhance the mandates and activities of the department.
