Yemisi Izuora
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has come up with a suggestion that it believed would help maintain sustained distribution of petroleum products across the country.
The suggestion is that the Federal Government should decentralise loading of petroleum products to make for effective loading at depots across the country.
Chief Lawson Obasi, National President, IPMAN, said in Port Harcourt that spreading of petroleum products to other coastal depots across the country would end current scarcity.
He said that a situation where government only distributed petroleum products to tank farms in Lagos was partly responsible for current scarcity and high cost of product.
“The current government approach, where marketers across the country are expected to load petroleum products from only depots in Lagos state, is counter-productive.
“To solve current scarcity of fuel; government must decongest Lagos by sending petroleum products to coastal depots in Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri.
“By decentralising supply and distribution from Lagos to other depots, it would become easier for IPMAN members to lift products and distribute to filling stations,” he said.
Obasi said that the current policy by government should be revised to enable marketers have unlimited access to petroleum products for distribution to final consumers.
He denied that marketers had hoarded products to deepen current scarcity to make more profit from sales.
According to him, the Pipelines Products Marketing Company (PPMC) should, as a matter of urgency, commence distribution of products to other depots in the South-South to end current fuel scarcity.