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Nigeria - The National President of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Okoronkwo, yesterday said NNPC's depot managers are the real culprits behind the prolonged fuel scarcity in Nigeria, The Nation reports.
He said depot managers across the country should be held responsible over the prolonged scarcity, and called on the Pipeline and Product Marketing Company, PPMC to immediately redeploy all depot managers who have served for more than a decade in their stations.
This position was echoed by the Eastern Zonal chairman of the association, Chief Chukwudi Ezinwa, who told reporters in Enugu, that the PPMC management should be blamed for allowing a manager to stay for as long as 18 years in a particular depot.
He accused them of sabotaging the system which, he noted, often leads to scarcity and hike in products’ prices.
Ezinwa said: “The problem is that most of them have over-stayed in a particular depot where they have made so many friends and in a bid to satisfy those interests, other marketers are suffering. So, they should be transferred so that new people will come and sanitise the place.
“There have been occasions where we accused PPMC officials of taking bribe to give us products and nothing has been done about it. Nobody has ever set up an inquiry to investigate these allegations and this raises further question of total corruption in the system.”
Ezinwa accused the depot managers of frustrating products loading.
He said: “Rules are no longer followed at the depots; all they do is to give priority to the highest bidders and those loyal to them.
“The report I got from the unit chairman in Aba shows that the depot manager is not playing according to the rules. PPMC have rules and the rules are that you release products according to the programme.
“The last batch he released was about 90 trucks but only 12 marketers who were in line got products; others were diverted, making it difficult for marketers in the programme to get and sell to the public.
“I have made efforts to talk to the depot manager of the consequences of what he is doing but it always fell on deaf ears. As far as IPMAN is concerned, if the Aba depot manager is not changed, there is no way the people in Aba and environs will have petroleum products.
“It is turning into a market for the highest bidder. And legitimate marketers who are supposed to have products are starved and we have cried for a long time but the government doesn’t appear to be interested in checking the situation.”
But the Aba depot manager, Mr. Emmanuel Mgbakiri, denied the allegations and wondered why IPMAN should go to the press without first reporting him to the appropriate authority
“If he (IPMAN chairman) feels I am the problem, he should go to the area manager and tell him what I have done wrong; there are proper ways of channeling issues. Please, I am a public servant; I am not permitted to talk to the press”, Mgbakiri maintained.
#IPMAN #Fuel #Nigeria
He said depot managers across the country should be held responsible over the prolonged scarcity, and called on the Pipeline and Product Marketing Company, PPMC to immediately redeploy all depot managers who have served for more than a decade in their stations.
This position was echoed by the Eastern Zonal chairman of the association, Chief Chukwudi Ezinwa, who told reporters in Enugu, that the PPMC management should be blamed for allowing a manager to stay for as long as 18 years in a particular depot.
He accused them of sabotaging the system which, he noted, often leads to scarcity and hike in products’ prices.
Ezinwa said: “The problem is that most of them have over-stayed in a particular depot where they have made so many friends and in a bid to satisfy those interests, other marketers are suffering. So, they should be transferred so that new people will come and sanitise the place.
“There have been occasions where we accused PPMC officials of taking bribe to give us products and nothing has been done about it. Nobody has ever set up an inquiry to investigate these allegations and this raises further question of total corruption in the system.”
Ezinwa accused the depot managers of frustrating products loading.
He said: “Rules are no longer followed at the depots; all they do is to give priority to the highest bidders and those loyal to them.
“The report I got from the unit chairman in Aba shows that the depot manager is not playing according to the rules. PPMC have rules and the rules are that you release products according to the programme.
“The last batch he released was about 90 trucks but only 12 marketers who were in line got products; others were diverted, making it difficult for marketers in the programme to get and sell to the public.
“I have made efforts to talk to the depot manager of the consequences of what he is doing but it always fell on deaf ears. As far as IPMAN is concerned, if the Aba depot manager is not changed, there is no way the people in Aba and environs will have petroleum products.
“It is turning into a market for the highest bidder. And legitimate marketers who are supposed to have products are starved and we have cried for a long time but the government doesn’t appear to be interested in checking the situation.”
But the Aba depot manager, Mr. Emmanuel Mgbakiri, denied the allegations and wondered why IPMAN should go to the press without first reporting him to the appropriate authority
“If he (IPMAN chairman) feels I am the problem, he should go to the area manager and tell him what I have done wrong; there are proper ways of channeling issues. Please, I am a public servant; I am not permitted to talk to the press”, Mgbakiri maintained.
#IPMAN #Fuel #Nigeria
