Fuel Scarcity: Marketers Take Blame

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has exonerated the Federal Government of any blames associated with the current lingering fuel shortages across the country, clarifying that Nigerians should rather blame the prolonged leadership crisis that had rocked the association as the cause of the crises.
The association also said the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, should not be held responsible for petrol scarcity as their nearly two years of fighting over leadership positions in the association had contributed maximally in the current petroleum product scarcity.
According to the Interim Management Secretary of IPMAN, Mr. Lawson Ngoa, the rivalry between two IPMAN national factions has crippled the importation and distribution of petroleum products in Nigeria, especially by independent marketers who control about 80 per cent of the fuel distribution network.
Ngoa explained in Abuja that Kachikwu had only intervened to end the crisis in his resolve to end the current fuel scarcity, and could not be blamed for it.
He noted Kachikwu, in trying to reconcile the factions and revive sanity in their operations, inaugurated IPMAN reconciliation and interim management committee to resolve the crisis and how it contributes to scarcity of petroleum products.
While shielding Kachikwu from the blame, Ngoa stated, in a statement, that the minister was completely innocent of the petroleum products scarcity as he inherited a crises-ridden petroleum sector.
He further stated that IPMAN accepts all responsibility for the difficulties suffered by Nigerians while agreeing that IPMAN was now ready to commence distribution of products following the reconciliation brokered by Kachikwu.
“With the increase in percentage of product to IPMAN and other incentives made available by the Federal Government through the minister of petroleum, the fuel scarcity will end in weeks,” said Ngoa.
He urged all Nigerians to support the Federal Government and the minister of petroleum to end the scarcity.
Also speaking on the fuel scarcity, the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Downstream of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Henry Ikem Obih, said that it would take the cooperation of all stakeholders in the country’s downstream petroleum sector to clear out the lingering queues for fuel at filling stations in the country.
Obih, who said more cargoes of petroleum products had been pumped into the market, explained that until everyone in the value chain honestly play their roles in the supply and distribution of petrol in the country, the long queues of vehicles waiting to buy fuel would not vanish.
He said that the NNPC alone would not be able to end the scarcity because it does not have all that is necessary to do that under its control.
According to him, instances of products diversion and operators’ reported reluctance to discharge and sell fuel allocated to them on time were noticed at some of the stations he inspected.
He said that such cases should be taken up and investigated by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to discourage the practice of operators’ preference for black market sale of petrol across the country.