New Telegraph

PMS: IPMAN Threatens To Import Product Over Dangote Refinery’s Delay

  • …urges mgt to review marketing strategy
  • …alleges NNPC Ltd owes members N40bn

The National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Abubakar Maigandi, yesterday threatened that the association would start fuel importation if their application for registration to the management of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals to lift fuel from the refinery continues to be delayed. He explained that they had applied since but their application has not been favourably considered.

He expressed surprise that the President of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said he had about 500 million litres of fuel in stock and that marketers should come and load the product. He said that if IPMAN members start getting fuel directly from Dangote Refinery, there would be a reduction in fuel pump prices.

Dangote, while addressing journalists after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, had said: “What I’m saying is that the retailers should please come forward and pick. If they don’t come forward and pick, what do you want me to do? There is nothing I can do.

“I’m expecting either NNPC or the marketers to stop importing and they should come and collect. We have what they need. “We have 500 million litres in our tanks.

So, 500 million litres in our tanks even if there’s no production from anybody or no imports. This will take the country more than 12 days, you know, with no imports, with no production, nothing.”

But speaking on Channels TV Sunrise programme yesterday, the IPMAN boss also alleged that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) was owing independent marketers an outstanding product worth about N40 billion.

Effort to get the response of NNPC Ltd to this allegation proved abortive as the Chief Corporate Communication Officer, NNPC Ltd, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, neither picked his calls nor responded to New Telegraph’s enquiry on the subject matter.

Maigandi said: “Infact we, independent petroleum marketers, are still waiting NNPC to load our product. Presently, we have over N40 billion outstanding with the NNPC Ltd to load product and my marketers are always looking the way they can get this product direct.

“So I am very surprise when I heard that the President, Dangote, said he has over 500 million litres of PMS. We, independent petroleum marketers, if he is able to sell this product directly, definitely we are ready to buy them because we have to pay before we pick. “We have over N40 billion under the NNPC custody.

We cannot be able to source this product. Just recently, there were some independent marketers that NNPC sent to load from Dangote refinery, those marketers stayed with their trucks over four days and they were not able to load. So there are so many challenges. “I do not know what they were unable to load.

That is why we have been contacting the management of Dangote refinery to allow us to start taking this product directly so that we know, immediately we pay for the product, we can load the product. If Dangote is having this 500 million litres on the stock, we are ready to buy the product directly.

“In buying direct through Dangote, there are certain processes which we are still following. They mentioned that they can not use us individually, that they want us to come as a group, which we have already done.

“We have a company called IPMAN Green Energy, we submitted the particulars of the company to Dangote Management so that he would register us so to start collecting from that our company, but up till today, they can not be able to register our company, takless of us start going there to start carrying direct through him.

When they register this our company, all these issues will be solved. “Independent petroleum marketers, we are the real retailers in the country.

We retail over 80 per cent of Nigerian products in the country. If Dangote has accepted to register our company, he will see a lot of changes because we do not normally import.”

He also said that Dangote should review his operations and find out why some marketers are importing fuel when his refinery is producing.

Maigandi said: “If there are some marketers who are importing, what made them to import which I think is Dangote and those marketers are the only people that can answer those questions.

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