Consumers preparing to file claims for damages for buying the contaminated fuel that was circulated in Lagos and its environs must be prepared to prove their cases.
This is a sequel to Tuesday�s directive by the Department of Petroleum Resources that the importer of the product, Oando Plc, must take full responsibility for the damages caused vehicle and generating plant owners as a result of using the fuel.
A top official in the DPR told our correspondent on Wednesday, �Consumers must prove their case beyond reasonable doubts because it is now a legal issue.�
Many consumers had complained of damage not only to their vehicle engines, but also generating sets.
However, the Director, DPR, Mr. Tony Chukwueke, said the process would not be as easy as merely pleading damages, as the affected consumers must show proof of purchase and evidence of damage arising from the use of the product.
Incidentally, apart corporate buyers, hardly any consumer demands for receipts after buying fuel from the filling stations.
According to the director, only consumers with proof of purchase would be compensated.
He noted that the compensation had to be streamlined to checkmate who might want to cash in on the process.
He said, �If the process is left open-ended, many consumers would take advantage of it to make frivolous claims. Even those who were out of the country at the time the product was circulated would want to make claims.�
In proving their cases, each claimant must also prove cost of the damage, and the cases must be directed strictly to the place of purchase.
According to the source, �If you bought the fuel from say a Mobil outlet, you don�t have to go straight to Oando to file in your claims.
�You file your claims through the same outlet, and the outlet must confirm that indeed, the fuel was purchased from them.
�If after all the verifications and Mobil eventually pays some compensations, Mobil will then file a refund claim from Oando.�
Meanwhile, Gunvor of Amsterdam, which supplied the contaminated fuel to Oando, said in a statement on Wednesday that it was certain about the quality of fuel it supplied and suggested that the contamination could have occurred at some point on the supply chain after offloading at the port.
Stressing that it had supplied almost 50 cargoes totaling 1.5million metric tonnes of petrol to Nigeria in the past 18 months, the company said that any legal action against it with regard to the shipment in question �will be met with a vigorous response.�