Yemisi Izuora/Ijeoma Agudosi
Nipco Plc, leading downstream oil company in Nigeria, has taken a commendable step to commence importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol.
The move is in an apparent solidarity with Federal Government’s determination to end fuel queues across the country.
The first consignment of imported product arrived via MT CHAMPION, and discharging 37 million litres in NIPCO’s terminal in Lagos against all the challenges facing the sector, Oriental News Nigeria learnt.
The integrated oil company, disclosed that its action was also to heed the call by the minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu, that oil marketers should bring in products to augment supplies from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation [NNPC], maintained that it had already lined up several cargoes of petrol in consonance with its fourth quarter product allocation.
NipCo is bringing in these products even in the face of none release of the N413 billion subsidy approved by the Federal Government to meet the subsidy claims of marketers which is currently before the National assembly for appropriation.
Ibe Kachikwu had at a meeting with marketer’s penultimate week sought for their support to end the fuel queues as soon as possible.
Oriental News Nigeria understood that the consignment is meant to meet the growing demands of registered marketers as well meet up with the call by the Minister for marketers to pick up the gauntlet and activate all necessary machinery and mechanism to guarantee unimpeded distribution of petroleum products across the country .
In the same vein,it was gathered that Nipco has mapped out measures to ensure that all the products get to designated stations at regulated products in line with its avowed policy of making sure that marketers load the product at the approved depot rate of N77.66K per litre.
The company affirmed it will not tolerate any unwholesome practices by any marketer that would undermine government efforts at ensuring that petrol get to stations at regulated rates even as measures are at advanced stage with key stakeholders like PEF, DPR and other relevant agencies to track all loadings at the depots to designated stations.
The company is not only monitoring dispatch of the products to stations on the loading invoice but also ensure that it is sold only at government approved rates in line with our resolve to partner with government to tame the monster of fuel price hike in some stations,
A visit by our correspondent to the company showed that a notice pasted at its entrance terminal strictly cautioned marketers registered to load petroleum products in the terminal to always be ready to abide regulations on the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country as it will not allow an sharp practices on any products loaded in the depot.
It’s surveillance team is already in place and appear ready to handover any marketer who loaded in the depot but found to be engaged in any despicable acts to law enforcement agents as such could jerk up petrol prices either at the depot level or at the station and as such resulting in more the pains to motorist we leant
At the weekend hundreds of marketers with outlets across the nooks and crannies’ of the country are positioning themselves to pick the products having being on the waiting list for several months owing to paucity of products
It could be recalled that Nipco came to the rescue of stakeholders under the same precarious condition in June ,2015 when it imported cargoes of petrol to ease off the lingering fuel crisis then as part of her determination to make more stations wet across the country in the face of the acute shortage during the time .