Reps Intervene In IPMAN Crisis

The House of Represen
tatives has passed a resolution to intervene in the leadership crisis tearing apart the Independent Petroleum Marketers’ Associationý of Nigeria to prevent the crisis from worsening the scarcity of petroleum products already being experienced in the country.
A factional crisis has torn IPMAN apart lately and has affected the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers.
In a motion by the Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Mr. Dakuku Peterside, told the House that IPMAN owned over 10,000 distribution outlets in the country.
“Thus, IPMAN constitutes one-third of petroleum products retailing infrastructure,” he stated.
Peterside expressed fear that if the crisis was not contained, it was “capable of threatening the fragile availability and distribution of petroleum products in Nigeria.”
The House resolved that Peterside’s committee and the Committee on Labour/Productivity should “liaise with the leadership of IPMAN and NUPENG to avert any unpleasant consequences following the succession crisis in fuel marketer’s organisation and finding ways to resolve them.”
The House also advised the parties to the crisis to “sheathe their swords and not take any action that will further expose Nigerians to hardship.”
The Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, directed the committee not to get involved in the leadership crisis, as IPMAN was a body of private individuals, saying that the intervention should be limited to distribution of products.
“Leave out the leadership crisis. Restrict yourselves to the aspect of liaising with the stakeholders to ensure that the crisis does not affect the distribution of petroleum products,” he added.
The committee was given one week to produce a report.