N195 per litre enforcement: We won’t shutdown filling stations, says IPMAN

The independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) on Sunday debunked the insinuations that marketers of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, are getting set to shut down operations beginning from Monday once the government starts the enforcement of N195/litre pump price.

Mr Mike Osatuyi, IPMAN’s National Operations Controller, debunked the assertion in a statement issued in Abuja and made available to newsmen.

Osatuyi said it became necessary to debunk the insinuation that IPMAN members planned to shut down their stations.

He said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is preparing the logistics to start given petrol to IPMAN members directly.

He advised members to open up there stations and start selling to the public nationwide.

He said that IPMAN is a responsible association that will not involve in undermining the national security as petrol is a national security product.

According to him, ”
Apart from IPMAN members loading at DAPPMAN depots in Abule-Ado, ijegun axis of Lagos has aggred to sell petrol at N172 per litre to IPMAN members as part of the Federal Government and DAPMAN efforts in ensuring Nigerian enjoy the subsidy regime.

He added that lPMAN will also load in NIPCO and MRS depots massively for South West and North West part of the country in few days time.

Osatuyi said the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) must be applauded for cancelling the #3 naira union charges on petrol in the last two days in loading depots adding that however, government should advise NUPENG/ PTD to bring down the transportation cost to various parts of the country where a reasonable profit will be made by the transport owners and the benefits of subsidy will equally be enjoyed by the public so as to enable IPMAN members to sell at reasonable and near approved prices nationwide.

He however, said that Adesope Ibadan Ipman depot publicity officer, has no mandate to talk on behalf of the National body of IPMAN.

He appealed to media to always cross check any information from IPMAN National body before going to press

It would be recalled that Alhaji Mojeed Adesope, the
IPMAN Publicity Officer, lbadan Depot called for shutdown of all IPMAN’s filling stations due to government’s pronouncement on the pump price of petrol should not exceed N195/litre, a development which dealers, particularly independent marketers, described as tough due to the high ex-depot price of the commodity.

Osatuyi said that members will beginning to get supply from the direct the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

He said that going forward, the independent marketers, being critical complement to the major marketers in breaking the festering scarcity, got assurance of direct supply of petrol from the NNPCL.

The moves came on the heels of a critical meeting between NNPCL, MOMAN, IPMAN, Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) and the Department of State Services (DSS) amongst others.

The National Operations Controller, said that the NNPCL have agreed to be selling petrol directly to IPMAN members at the regulated official price, rather than the crisis-fueling situation of routing products through third parties, who had been severally fingered as being behind inflated wholesale supply prices.

Osatuyi said direct sale of products to independent marketers “will bring down the price of the product”, noting that direct sale of products to independent marketers will lead to immediate reversal of retail prices to regulated retail price.

He said: “I can tell you that the NNPCL have agreed to be giving IPMAN petrol directly and not through a third party.

The Federal Government of Nigeria and the Inspector General of police should call the federal task force on petroleum products to order as there recent actions is geared towards intimidation and exploitation.

IPMAN will work with them in a peaceful and friendly atmosphere to fish out fraudulent members among IPMAN members that can be proven but not exploitative agenda.

.FG working to restore normalcy – Sylva

The Federal Government says it is focused on ensuring that the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) scarcity and queues are normalised.

Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, made this known on Friday while speaking with newsmen shortly after inspecting some filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), including Conoil and TotalEnergies filling stations in Central Area.

 

“Mr President directed that we must ensure that the fuel supply situation is normalised quickly. And that is why I have to ensure that we sort out this problem.

 

“A lot of things have been done. All hands have been on deck, the NNPC Limited, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), and stakeholders in the supply chain have come together to ensure that the problem is resolved.

“This is not the time for us to aportion  blames as  the most important thing is that the problem has been resolved and you can see now the queues are no longer there, at least in the FCT we are going around to ensure they have  disappeared,” he said.

On marketers who are selling above approved price, especially in other states, he said it was a regulatory issue and within the purview of the NMDPRA  to sanction those marketers.

Sylva added that the authority would tackle the issue.

Speaking on the conflicting ex-depot price, he described it as commercial details under the purview of the NNPC Ltd., saying he would ensure that  all those conflicting problems were resolved.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Muhammadu Buhari recently approved constitution of a 14-man Steering Committee on Petroleum Products Supply and Distribution management to find lasting solution to the disruptions in distribution of petroleum products.

The minister said the committee, which was also part of the solution mechanism, would be inaugurated next week to ensure that the situation normalise totally.

“If you look at the fuel situation in Nigeria,  it has a lot of ramifications. The importation of the petroleum product is a problem because a lot of people cannot access the foreign exchange.

“The fuel situation also has nothing to do with politics.  Anything,  including natural disasters like flood can trigger the fuel distribution hindrance because they are natural factors we are not in control of.

“A lot of the problems that caused fuel scarcity and queues are not within our control there are also all kinds of people who are ready to take advantage of situations and caused problems by seeking for opportunity to make money, hoard and smuggle the product.

“These require intervention of the security agencies and the recent engagement with them definitely helped,” he said.

He expressed sadness about the situation which had subjected Nigerians to pain and frustration, adding the President, was also pained that the citizens were passing through the hardship.

In the bid to futher ensure energy  sufficiency, Sylva said the refineries across the country were being rehabilitated and mordula refineries were being anabled while the government was doing everything to ensure scarcity did not reoccur again.

“We had to take 20 per cent stake in Dangote Refinery, these are all efforts by the government to ensure the problem is solved permanently,” he said.

Mr Francis Sule, Manager, Conoil Filling Station, confirmed that the queues had reduced.

Sule added that one of the problem the station encountered was associated with Point of Sale (PoS) machine transactions.

Majority of the motorists also confirmed to NAN that the queues had reduced and appealed to the government to sustain the effort and measures put in place.

NAN reports that the NNPC Limited had also  engaged with the oil marketers and security agencies to find ways of addressing the lingering fuel crisis in the country