The CEO of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Dr Mustapha Hamid-Abdul has disclosed his outfit's intention to stump out fuel adulteration in Ghana.

According to him, the NPA has instituted innovative strategies to ensure improvement in the quality of petroleum products on the Ghanaian market to outwit adulterated products on the market.

He was speaking at a ceremony to commemorate the 2021 Consumer Week Celebration in Ho, the Volta Regional capital.

Fuel adulteration has been identified as a global challenge, where some petroleum service providers engage in the illicit act to maximize profit at the expense of the consumers.

The consumers are deprived of value for money and suffer vehicle and machinery damages.

Fuel adulteration also causes harm to the environment through the emission of harmful compounds such as Carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds.

It was for these reasons that the National Petroleum Authority waged war on fuel adulteration in Ghana, hereby theming this year's Consumer Week Celebration 'Adulterated fuels: a menace to the consumer and the economy.”

The Chief Executive Officer of NPA, Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid elaborated on the strategies being deployed to fight fuel adulteration in Ghana.

“Among the key strategies are the revision of operating procedures in the importation, exportation, and production of fuels by petroleum service providers (PSPs) and the introduction of Petroleum Product Marking Scheme (PPMS) and Bulk Road Vehicle (BRV) tracking system to ensure that products are devoid of adulteration and meet the required specification along the supply chain”, he said.

“As a result of these stringent measures instituted, the retail outlet failure rate has reduced drastically from 32% as of 2013 to 2.51% as of August 2021. Mr Chairman, we are poised to wipe out these 2.51% culprits still cheating petroleum consumers.”

He further indicated that “this is why we are here today, to tell consumers to report to the NPA anytime there is suspicion of the purchase of contaminated fuel. There are laws that provide punitive sanctions such as fines, imprisonment, or both for the perpetrators of these fuel quality crimes."

Delivering an address on behalf of the Energy Minister, Obed Krane, advised drivers against buying fuel from unauthorized dealers and warned against the consequences.

“And to our drivers here who like to buy fuel from our tabletop dealers; what is known to be 'Gao-gao', in this Municipality probably because it's cheaper than what’s sold at the filling station, please note that you are rather damaging your car engines and you will spend more to fix your cars at the mechanic shop than buying the quality products from the fuel stations”, he said.

The Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa highlighted the effects of adulterated fuels on consumers and the environment and called for collaborative efforts towards fighting the canker.

“Let me encourage all stakeholders present not to see the theme as a single duty of the NPA but rather embrace it as a collective responsibility”, he said.

The Consumer Service Week celebration served as a platform to educate and create public awareness on the safe use of petroleum products, the rights, and responsibilities of consumers.

It also highlighted the activities, mandate, objectives, and responsibilities of the NPA to the consuming public.