… IPMAN promises 24-hour service
By Adewale Sanyaolu and Dennis Mernyi, Abuja
NIGERIANS may heave a sigh of relief from this weekend as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday took delivery of 21,000 metric tonnes of petrol, about 6.5 million litres.
The vessel christened Sea Frontier berthed on Nigeria’s territorial waters around 3pm Thursday with the wet cargo.
A source close to the deal told Daily Sun that the consignment had been designated to major marketers by NNPC as part of efforts to cushion the effect of the petrol scarcity.
“You know it takes a minimum of four days for a vessel to discharge. Each marketer will have to fix its hose to the vessel to connect its line and then to the respective depots. But this cannot be done at the same time. They will have to wait for one another. This explains part of the reasons for the delay,” he said.
According to our source, the 21,000 metric tonnes was part of the 65 million metric tonnes expected by NNPC this weekend leaving an outstanding of 44 million MT expected to arrive the country from today.
Meanwhile, in its renewed effort to halt the current fuel scarcity, the leadership of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has promised to commence 24-hour service across its retail outlets in the country.
This is even as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, waded into the lingering crises within IPMAN.
As part of the reconciliatory moves, the Minister raised a 14-man committee charged with the task of doing everything possible “to restore peace to the association at the national, zonal and depot levels.” He noted that as critical stakeholders in the downstream sector, the contribution of IPMAN is crucial in the drive to end the prevailing fuel supply situation across the nation.
The Minister, who called on all members to see IPMAN as one indivisible entity, also charged them to work with relevant government agencies including NNPC, DPR and other stakeholders to ensure that the prevailing fuel scarcity becomes a thing of the past as soon as possible.
