“The problems of fuel supply keeps reverberating in the industry. One of such problems was payment of certain fees by marketers before loading. Cases abound where marketers are prevented from loading fuel until they pay the money”
WILL the lingering fuel scarcity ever abate? Neither the Federal Government, nor any of the stakeholders in the importation and distribution chain of petroleum products can convincingly answer this question.
After their parley in Abuja penultimate Monday, the Federal Government and the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) promised that the scarcity would end before that week. But nine days after that promise, Nigerians still go through pains to buy fuel.
The product has not only become scarcer, the prices have soared with almost all the filling stations selling above the approved N87 per litre ceiling.
It was learnt yesterday that the NNPC depot in Lagos has been overwhelmed by marketers, who could not load products from depots owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in other parts of the country.
In the Apapa axis, where the depots are concentrated, there were long queues of trucks waiting to load product en route other parts of the country but could not do so.
Stakeholders blamed the situation on marketers’ failure to meet part of the conditions outlined in the Bulk Purchasing Agreements (BPAs), which they signed with the NNPC to allow them access to petroleum products from the depots.
The Nation gathered that many marketers could not pay N2.5 million meet other conditions laid out for them before they can lift fuel.
The development came on the heels of the suspension placed by MOMAN on the importation of fuel, following the seemingly irreconcilable disagreement between its members and the Federal Government over subsidy payment.
According to MOMAN, the government is still indebted to its members to the tune of N200 billion after paying the controversial N156 billion.
MOMAN’s President Femi Olawore said his association got N154 billion and not N156 billion as announced by the minister.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has insisted that the subsidy balance was N130 billion.
As at yesterday, MOMAN members – Mobil, Forte Oil, MRS, Oando, Total and Conoil – were yet to resume importation, without which the scarcity will persist.
More than a week after major oil marketers acknowledged the receipts of N154 billion of the N156 billion the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, claimed the Federal Government paid and a botched meeting she led other officials to hold with the marketers, there is no sign the scarcity will end soon.
The National President of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Okoronkwo, gave an insight into the problems yesterday.
He said the problems were not only many but complicated, blaming the inability of his members to lift fuel on financial constraints.
His words: “Independent marketers are unable to load from the depots belonging to the national oil company (NNPC) because they could not pay certain fees. The Federal Government has not settled us via paying our subsidies.
“The fuel scarcity has caused a lot of ripples in the industry. There is a long queue of trucks waiting to load fuel from depots. Getting to depots to load is a problem. A lot of trucks could not load fuel because of one problem or the other.”
Okoronkwo also identified the pipeline network as another problem stalling fuel distribution.
He said the pipelines were laid in a way that cannot guarantee even distribution of products to the depots, thus making it difficult for marketers to load fuel as at when due.
“One of the reasons why fuel scarcity persists is the location of the pipelines. Instead of ensuring distribution of fuel across the country, the fuel supply is restricted to Lagos. Everybody is coming to Lagos to load fuel. That is the reason behind the queue in Apapa and other loading points in Lagos,” Okoronkwo said.
He urged the Federal Government to pay attention to the pipeline network to reduce fuel supply problems.
The IPMAN, which said depot managers across the country should be held responsible over the prolonged scarcity, called on the 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.
Kofo Oladehinde, a member of the independent Marketers Branch (IMB) of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), pointed out some of the hitches in the distribution of fuel.
He said the development has stalled efforts by NNPC to make fuel available to the consumers.
“The problems of fuel supply fuel keeps reverberating in the industry. One of such problems was payment of certain fees by marketers before loading. Cases abound where marketers are prevented from loading fuel until they pay the money,” he said.
According to Oladehinde, who works at Mosimi Depot, not a few marketers have been unable to load from the Mosimi Depot.
NNPC’s spokesman Ohi Alegbe said any marketers who cannot pay the stipulated fees will not be allowed to load products at any of the NNPC depots.
Alegbe said: “This is business. If you come to the NNPC depots to load fuel, you must meet your financial obligations before you can take our fuel.
“The moment you pay, you get fuel. If you do not pay, there is no fuel for you. If you allow marketers to take fuel without paying the prescribed fees, we will not be able to run NNPC well.”
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