Consumers Queuing to buy kerosene
Independent petroleum marketers under aegis of Jetty and Tank Farm Owners Association of Nigeria (JEPTFON) and Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) have rejected the revised guidelines on the handling and distribution of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), saying it was not with the consent of its members.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) last week met with members of Major Oil Marketers Association (MOMAN) to take a stand on how to end the lingering kerosene scarcity within 10 days.
It was resolved at the meeting that imported kerosene would be discharged into depots of members of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) for onward distribution and sale in their various outlets across the country within the next 10 days. The listed marketers include Mobil, Conoil, Total, AP, MRS Oil and Oando Plc.
But rising from a closed door meeting on Friday, the independent marketers declared that any attempt to restrict distribution of the product to MOMAN members only “will be a disaster” as according to them, the excluded stakeholders control about 80 percent of infrastructure for efficient reception, storage and distribution of petroleum products across the country.
They insisted that the scarcity was largely due to bottleneck in supply and distribution caused by the NNPC, the sole importer of DPK into the country.
According to them, the revised guidelines were drawn up without the input of all stakeholders as it was a meeting strictly between NNPC and MOMAN “to deliberate exclusion of other stakeholders”.
While noting that the new guidelines were drawn to give undue advantage to MOMAN, the aggrieved marketers said the development will further exacerbate the scarcity of the DPK across the nation rather than abet the situation.
They also submitted that the revised guidelines were drawn up without the input of all stakeholders as it was a meeting strictly between NNPC and Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) to deliberate exclusion of other stakeholders.
The marketers also noted that distribution of DPK for decades has been largely through the “DPR licensed peddlers and surface tank resellers who buy from depots and not filling stations”.
They aggrieved marketers declared: “That any attempt to restrict distribution of DPK to MOMAN members only will be a disaster because other excluded stakeholders control about 80 percent of infrastructure for efficient reception, storage and distribution of petroleum products”,
“We therefore reject these new guidelines and request that the GMD NNPC should immediately convene a meeting of all stakeholders to stipulate guidelines that will genuinely address the problems of supply and distribution of DPK across the nation and in the interest of the common man”, they added.
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