The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Association of Nigeria has asked its members across the country to inspect their dispensing meters.

This instruction came following a warning by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority over alleged under-dispensing of petroleum products.

The association’s National President, Billy Gillis-Harry, disclosed this on Wednesday while speaking on Channels Television’s ‘The Morning Brief programme’.

According to him, PETROAN convened an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council on Tuesday after the regulator raised concerns about the accuracy of fuel dispensing at retail outlets.

He said the meeting lasted until about 10 pm, after which members were directed to check their equipment.

“PETRON circulated a message around the country, calling our members to check their meters as quickly as possible,” Gillis-Harry said.

The PETROAN president said some members had already commenced checks, noting that prolonged use could affect the performance of dispensing equipment and lead to either short-measuring or dispensing more fuel than customers paid for.

“Equipment can be faulty over time because of usage,” he said, recalling that he had previously lost money in his own retail business because a faulty meter was dispensing more fuel than customers paid for.

Gillis-Harry also assured motorists that members of the association remained committed to ensuring that the quantity paid for by customers was accurately dispensed.

“But I can tell you that PETRON members will, at all times, insist on making sure that they sell their products one litre for one litre,” he said.

He advised motorists to monitor the quantity shown on the dispensing meter whenever they buy fuel and request receipts after making purchases.

He further urged consumers to familiarise themselves with the fuel capacity of their vehicles and compare it with the quantity indicated by the dispenser.

“Oftentimes, we educate our staff to call the attention of the patron to check the meter while it is being dispensed. And also to get the customer to check after the product has been dispensed,” he said.

Gillis-Harry said PETROAN collaborates with the Weights and Measures Division of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the NMDPRA on the maintenance and accuracy of fuel dispensing meters.

“PETRON consistently works with the Weights and Measures Division of the Ministry of Trade and Investment, and also the NMDPRA. These are the two regulatory authorities that ensure that our meters are functional. And they are up to date and accurate,” he said.

The NMDPRA had warned filling station operators against under-dispensing petroleum products, stating that outlets found short-changing consumers could face sanctions, including the withdrawal of their operating licences.

Gillis-Harry said the association was treating the regulator’s warning with seriousness and had commenced engagement with its members to identify and correct any faults.

“But we took what the NMDPRA called our attention to yesterday very seriously. And we already started working on that,” he said.

The Director-General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Dr. John Asein, has reiterated the Commission’s determination to enforce zero tolerance for piracy in all its forms, warning that anyone found reproducing or selling pirated books would face the full weight of the law.

Asein, who spoke through the Director of the NCC Port Harcourt Office, Mr. Abdulsalam Babatunde, gave the warning during an enforcement operation at Omoku Main Market in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government of Rivers state over the week, where pirated textbooks worth over N2 million were confiscated.

He urged members of the public, particularly schools, tertiary institutions, booksellers and other users of literary works, to patronise only authorised authors and publishers and refrain from purchasing pirated publications.

The NCC Director-General said the Commission would continue to execute its mandate in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, stressing that persons involved in the reproduction and sale of pirated books would be dealt with according to the law.

The operation, conducted on Thursday, September 17, involved personnel of the NCC and officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), resulting in the arrest of two suspects.

Babatunde equally warned persons involved in the sale of pirated materials in Rivers State and neighbouring states to desist from the practice, stressing that the law would catch up with those who violate copyright provisions.

A publisher, Mr. Friday Ijere, decried the losses being suffered by publishers and authors as a result of piracy, noting that pirates were making unscrupulous gains from intellectual works belonging to others.

Ijere called for sustained sensitisation campaigns to enlighten booksellers, schools and other users of literary works on the dangers and consequences of patronising pirated publications.

He said piracy was seriously affecting the publishing industry, as the practice deprives publishing firms and authors of legitimate income and undermines the efforts invested in producing literary works.

The two suspects arrested during the operation claimed they were unaware that the books they had purchased were pirated, insisting that they had bought them believing they were genuine copies.

One of the suspects said the arrest had become fqqaaan eye-opener, explaining that they would not have knowingly purchased books they suspected to be pirated.

They subsequently promised to desist from patronising pirated publications and ensure that they purchase books only from authorised sources in the future.

The enforcement operation underscores the NCC’s renewed efforts to curb the circulation of pirated literary works and protect the rights and economic interests of authors, publishers and other copyright owners.

The United Nations says women account for about 70 per cent of people involved in food crop production, processing and commercialisation in Nigeria, but remain constrained by limited access to land, finance, technology, markets and productive resources.

The UN disclosed this on Monday at a press conference in Abuja, to commemorate the International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026, themed, “Empowering Women Farmers: Advancing Inclusive Policies and Investments for Resilient Agrifood Systems.

The international organisation also said its supported projects in Nigeria had reached more than 100,000 women, with about $47m invested in programmes targeting women, as between 48 and 50 per cent of beneficiaries.

Speaking on behalf of the FAO Representative in Nigeria and ECOWAS, Dr Hussein Gadain, the Senior Programme Officer, Office of Emergency and Resilience, FAO, Jimmy Owani, said women were indispensable to Nigeria’s agrifood systems but continued to operate below their potential because of persistent inequalities.

“Women farmers are indispensable to agri-food systems,” he said, adding that investing in them was “not only a matter of equity, but also a strategic investment in food security, economic growth and sustainable development.”

He called for greater investment in women-led agrifood enterprises, improved access to land and finance, better technologies and extension services, enhanced market opportunities and increased participation in agricultural governance.

The UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms Beatrice Eyong, said women’s contribution was undermined by structural barriers, including limited access to land, knowledge, extension services, technology, finance and markets.

“Though they form 70 per cent of those who provide labour, they have structural constraints, obstacles that make them not to perform the way they should have performed,” she said.

Eyong warned that climate change could worsen the situation, as men were more likely to secure fertile land when agricultural resources became scarce.

“When there is no fertile land, the men are going to get the fertile lands and push women and shift women very, very far,” she said, adding that this increased women’s workload.

She further said agricultural interventions must account for women’s unpaid domestic responsibilities.

“Each time you add anything in the village or in the community for women, you have added more work,” she said, noting that many women combined farming with fetching water and firewood, preparing food and caring for their families.

The UN said low-cost biodigesters and related clean-energy equipment had been provided to more than 780 rural women households across six states, helping some save up to 12 hours weekly previously spent gathering firewood.

It added that digitally assisted climate-smart agriculture programmes were providing women with weather, market and input information, while helping financial institutions assess their credit history and enabling extension officers to monitor farms remotely.

Speaking on behalf of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Country Director for Nigeria, Ms Dede Ekoue, said the UN-supported programmes had constructed or rehabilitated more than 221 market, processing and storage facilities in 2025 and provided over 4,500 smart-technology and clean-energy equipment, including mobile phones, solar-powered water pumps, power tillers and cassava peel conversion machines.

She said more than 87,888 women belonged to supported rural producer organisations, while 82 women state apex leaders in 16 states had received leadership training.

Five women cooperatives had also received the African Organisation for Standardisation Dual Quality Mark Certification, which the UN said could improve consumer confidence, competitiveness and access to regional markets under the African Continental Free Trade Area.