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Unregistered trucks will no longer lift petroleum products

By on January 5, 2014

The Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) on Friday said that unregistered trucks would no longer be allowed to lift petroleum products at depots.

This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Goddy Nnadi, the General Manager, Corporate Services of PEF, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.

The statement that said a five–pronged strategy had been implemented by PEF Management Board to quicken the compulsory registration and tagging of trucks used in moving products under the Project Aquila.

It said the project would begin in January.

“Under the plan, the Information Technology Systems in the organisation have been upgraded to ensure faster processing and tagging of trucks used in the movement of petroleum products nationwide.

“Staffers of the IT unit have also undergone special training for better and more efficient service delivery. Trucks not tagged will not be allowed to bridge products in any depot,” it said.

The statement said that registration and tagging of trucks would now be decentralised to designated centres in the six geo-political zones to reduce stress on marketers and transporters.

It noted that documentation processes had been streamlined and paper work reduced drastically.

The statement added that tagging teams would work simultaneously at the various zones to ensure that marketers are not delayed unduly.

It said that marketers were now to file applications for the registration and tagging of their trucks at the various depots.

The statement said that the processing of such applications by the Customer Care Unit had been limited to two working days only.

It explained that the measures were being implemented to ensure speedy service delivery to petroleum marketers.

“Project Aquila is the high-tech electronic loading and delivery system implemented by the Board to check leakages in the system as well as enthrone transparency and due process, ” the statement said.

It noted that contrary to insinuations that marketers’ payments were being delayed, project Aquila has facilitated the availability of Petroleum products across the country due to prompt payment of claims.

The statement also dismissed the claims that the Board was underpaying some marketers.

It stressed that the PEF Management Board had been consistent in paying the claims due to marketers in accordance with their capacity as approved by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

“Those who are complaining are those that the robust Project Aquila has blocked their old ways of `milking the system’, and are uncomfortable with the new measures imposed to check the abuses of the past,’’ the statement said.

It said that PEF and national leaders of the Association of Road Transport Owners and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria meet quarterly.

The statement said that the meetings discuss and resolve operational issues and ensure good working relations.

“The board is also collaborating with the Federal Road Safety Commission to ensure the success of the registration and tagging of the trucks.

“It is expected that on completion of the exercise, the organisation will provide reliable data on the number and type of trucks involved in the movement of petroleum products nationwide.

“The implication is that trucks not registered and tagged will not be accepted for the bridging of petroleum products in all parts of the country,” it said.

 

(NAN)