IPMAN to sustain kerosene distribution
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association says it will sustain the Kero-Direct scheme in order to ensure that the masses benefit from it.
IPMAN National President, Alhaji Aminu Abdulkadri, in a statement on Wednesday, said the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, through the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, and the Managing Director, PPMC, Mr. Haruna Momoh, in conjunction with IPMAN, would ensure that the nationwide tour on Kero-Direct was sustained.
He said, “We are going to use our structure to ensure that the masses get the product in all remote areas so that Nigerians continue to enjoy the dividends of democracy that President Goodluck Jonathan has promised.”
Abdulkadri advised members of the public to avoid panic buying, while warning marketers to desist from spreading the rumour of an impending fuel scarcity.
He said, “There is no scarcity of fuel in the country, marketers and Nigerians should stop sending wrong signals over scarcity of petroleum products. We have petroleum products in all the NNPC depots across the country and we don’t think there is any impending scarcity.”
He explained that the NNPC and the PPMC have assured IPMAN members, who control about 87 per cent of fuel retail outlets in the country, of sufficient stock.
According to him, the NNPC has sufficient stock of products in its marine reserve and national strategic reserve to ensure that the country remains wet with the products round the clock.
He cautioned marketers and members of the public against any form of panic buying of petroleum products in anticipation of scarcity.
He said, “The fuel situation in the country is quite stable; no cause for alarm. The smooth supply of products has been sustained for a period of two years.”
Abdulkadri said IPMAN had entered into an agreement with the Petroleum Equalisation Fund toward the prompt payment of marketers’ bridging claims in order to ensure that fuel supply got to all nooks and crannies of the country.
“Whosoever that understands the oil and gas sector knows that it is a volatile sector, and any destruction of pipeline by vandals will affect the process of supply but IPMAN and PPMC are on top of the situation in bridging the gap at all times,” he added.
He said the association would ensure that fuel was adequately supplied in order to bridge any slow supply in any location of the country, which lacked prompt and adequate supply of the product.
[Punch]