BY SAM OTUONYE
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), has accused Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC Ltd) of using the deposits of its members to service their mega stations and major marketers at their expense, even as they have refuted the claim by NNPC Ltd on the availability of products.
IPMAN chairman of Mosimi Depot, in Ogun State, Otunba Femi Adelaja, had on Tuesday, blamed the current fuel scarcity in the Southwest region of the country on the refusal of the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC Ltd) to make petroleum products available to its members three months after payment.
Similarly, his counterpart at Ore Depot, Engr. Shina Amao, Tuesday, in an interview with a news media, monitored by our correspondent, disclosed that there was no supply anywhere.
He lamented that the long process of getting products from NNPC Ltd is a big challenge, alleging that none of its members has got products from NNPC Ltd over two to three years.
IPMAN therefore appealed to the federal government as well as other critical stakeholders in the oil industry to prevail on the NNPCL management and ensure that the corporation desists from withholding petroleum products from its members, so as to lessen the hardship being experienced by the citizens.
Speaking with journalists in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the IPMAN Mosimi Depot Chairman, Femi Adelaja, said his members have, since June this year, made a deposit payment of N75.142 billion to the corporation for supplies through the Lagos Private Depot Owners (PDO), but NNPC Ltd refused to make the product available to its members.
Adelaja, who lamented the non-receipt of products from NNPC Ltd three months after payment, said the management of the corporation has been using the IPMAN’s deposit to service the interests of majority marketers at the detriment of the interests of IPMAN members whose businesses have been surviving on bank loans.
Accusing NNPC Ltd of deliberately hoarding petroleum products from its members, Adelaja said it is disheartening that the corporation could be using his members’ deposits to make supplies available to the trio of Total, OANDO, and Ardova petroleum companies, who in turn resell to a few of its customers, thereby compelling them to sell at a higher price to the public.
“As I speak with you, we are surprised to see that the NNPC would not give us any supply, rather, the corporation has been busy using our deposits to run business for their various mega stations. They have refused to acknowledge that our businesses have been surviving on bank loans, who would charge interests on whatever amount is released to each IPMAN member.”
Adelaja, however, solicited the support of all well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the management of the NNPC Ltd before it drove its members out of business, as Amao tasked NMDPRA on effective monitoring of products to ensure that they are delivered where they are meant for.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has assured to end the current scarcity of petrol tomorrow, Wednesday, August 21, 2024.