Business
IPMAN Kicks Against Bulk Purchase Pact Renewal
Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has condemned the introduction of bulk purchase agreement renewal as one of the conditions for loading products at the Pipelines Products Marketing Company (PPMC) depots.
The Chairman.
IPMAN Chairman, Western Zone, Alhaji Debo Ahmed made the observation in an interview with newsmen in Lagos last Saturday.
Ahmed said that some PPMC officials had instructed marketers loading products at depots to renew their bulk purchase agreement before loading.
According to him, such directive is adversely affecting marketers loading from the depots.
NNPC has been recording huge financial loss by pumping petroleum products through the System 2B Pipelines Network due to the activities of the vandals.
System 2B pipelines network is the pumping of petroleum products from Atlas Cove in Lagos Island to Ejigbo, through Mosinmi in Ogun to Ibadan to Ore in Ondo State and Ilorin in Kwara.
The corporation had in 2016 stopped pumping of products through the network, thereby making use of the private depots in Apapa to distribute its products.
“We appeal to government to reconsider the bulk purchase agreement renewal on marketers.
“The newly introduced bulk purchase agreement renewal by the government officials is a fraud.
“We are told that all marketers should come and renew its bulk purchase agreement for four years again after we have paid and signed during registration with the depots initially.
“This is against the bulk purchase agreement earlier signed with marketers; this has affected us adversely from the point of loading.
“We want to tell the government that what the officials are doing on the bulk purchase agreement is wrong.
“It’s another form of ripping the marketers. We are not sure the money is going to the Federal Government’s account,” he said.
Ahmed urged PPMC management to commence loading of products at the depots, saying it took over a week for the products to be stored at the depots.
“As we speak, we have about 60 million litres of petrol at Mosinmi Depot, while Ejigbo Satellite Depot has over 35 million litres.
“But other depots like Ore in Ondo, Ibadan, and Ilorin have not received products.
“We have not commenced loading at Mosinmi and Ejigbo satellite depots; we are told that the loading would commence soonest but it has not started.
A marketer said on a condition of anonymity that one of the reasons why loading was delayed at PPMC depots was the connivance between the corporation officials and the private depots.
According to the marketer, such connivance will ensure that the private marketers sell their products on time.
The marketer said that most private depots were selling above the official ex-depot price; adding that such practice would affect their gains when PPMC depots were selling to marketers.
“They want the private depots in Apapa to finish selling their products before the PPMC depots begin, knowing that once they start selling, no marketer will patronise the private depots,” the source said.
A check by our source at the depots indicated that business activities around Mosinmi and Ejigbo depots have started to pick up after 11-months of non-availability of products for loading by marketers.
The immediate past Chairman, IPMAN, Mosinmi Depot, Alhaji Dele Tajudeen, said that the place had been the central point for all marketers in the western zone.
He said that for over 11 months, the marketers could not load products from the depot.
According to him, Mosinmi depot has turned to a graveyard.
“No business activities are going on there; marketers have suffered greatly due to non-availability of products.
“The shutdown of pumping of products to Mosinmi has affected our business including that of the petty traders within the premises.
Tajudeen, however, commended the management of NNPC for finding a lasting solution to the damaged pipeline.
Mrs Alice Bakare, a food seller, Ejigbo depot, commended government for resuming operation at the depot, adding that many petty traders had suffered due to the closure of the facility.
Mr Adamu Idris, a truck driver, expressed optimism of loading at the Mosinmi depot, saying he had been on the queue since Tuesday but loading had yet to begin.
However, an unnamed official of PPMC, Ejigbo, told NAN that they were still expecting a directive from Abuja to start loading.
The official declined comments on the bulk purchase agreement renewal.
“I cannot comment on that now, but that was the instruction,” he said.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.