Fuel shortages loom as marketers stop loading fuel
On Wednesday, members of the Nigerian Independent Petroleum Marketers Association stopped shipping petroleum products at private Apapa bases, as well as at Ibadan, Ejigbo and Mosimi, owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
Our reporter learned that marketers have placed bids on properties to protest the inability to receive products due to a new payment method introduced by Petroleum Products Marketing Company, a subsidiary of NNPC.
The President of IPMAN Ore Warehouse, Mr. Shina Amoo, confirmed this in an interview with our correspondent in Ibadan on Wednesday.
He said that members of the association blocked deposits in tankers to protest the new payment method.
Amoo said independent marketers were upset that a new payment method, dubbed “PPMC Customer Express,” was suddenly imposed on them, and the NNPC immediately expected compliance without considering the business interests of many of the association’s members.
He explained that with the new deal, big marketers and very few independent marketers with huge funds can pay for 200 trucks and load them, while those who paid for one or two trucks would queue for months without supervision.
He said: “They have to go back to the old payment method, which is also online payment through Remita. IPMAN members met last night and decided to block cargo warehouses in Ibadan, Ejigbo, Mosimi and private warehouses in Apapa.
“IPMAN members blocked deposits this morning on their trucks in protest against the new payment method.”
According to Amoo, picketing will continue until PPMC reverts to its previous payment method.
He said: “Various preliminary documents are required for the new payment, such as renewal of bulk purchases, renewal of license and many other documents that are not always available.
“In the days following the introduction of this new payment method, some of the big marketers in the North took advantage of the situation to dispense with independent marketers in the Southwest. At the same time, a shortage of fuel is inevitable.
“The PPMC Customer Express payment method was introduced without taking into account the billions of naira tickets that IPMAN members have already posted on the NNPC system.”
Amoo announced that the new payment method was unveiled by PPMC on February 4, adding that no independent marketer has been able to download it since.
The NNPC, which has been the country’s only oil importer in recent years, continues to rely on marketing, despite deregulating the oil sector.
Private oil trading companies continued to complain that their inability to access foreign exchange at official rates was hampering efforts to resume oil imports.
Source: – Punch ng
