Reports by a national newspaper on Saturday, stated that ministry and NNPC officials collected a whopping bribe of N195.5 billion before allocating kerosene to marketers.
Reacting to the allegation yesterday, Alhaji Aminu Abdulkadir President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), stated that some mischief makers were out to blackmail the petroleum ministry and NNPC officials, with a view to causing problem in the downstream sector. He has denied the allegation that his members bribe officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum before getting allocation of kerosene
He accused those behind this as bringing politics into the operations of the petroleum industry for selfish gains.
Abdulkadir stated that NNPC/PPMC does not transact with any marketer without bulk purchase agreement. Also, he said that NNPC/PPMC had conducted verification exercise of retail outlet in the country and have since sanctioned some fake marketers from lifting products.
“All legitimate marketers lift their product and sell at approved government price, in line with the directive of the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, which is being implemented by the GMD NNPC, MD PPMC and IPMAN President.”
He revealed that the Minister of Petroleum had constituted a committee “to ensure product distribution across the country, with a view to sustaining and enhancing product availability in all our retail outlets in the country,” adding: “NNPC has succeeded in sustaining product availability for over three years without queues in Nigeria .”
The IPMAN president stated that NNPC, PPMC and the petroleum ministry should be commended rather than criticized , for ensuring that fuel supply has been stable in the last three years.
The statement by Abdulkadir read in part: “I have read with serious concern the politically motivated allegation of bribery against NNPC officials by faceless marketers, who claim to be paying N25 per litre on top of the official price without any proof.
It is quite intriguing that some mischievous individuals are hell bent in turning the downstream petroleum industry into a political theatre without minding the negative impact of such on the Nigerian economy.
It is now obvious that these enemies of peace in the industry, having instigated all manners of public hearing in collusion with their allies to truncate the supply stability the populace has been enjoying, with the aim of discrediting the efforts of the leadership of the petroleum industry, have now resulted to negative press war.
“The truth is that IPMAN controls 87 per cent of total retail outlet in the country with over 30, 000 retail outlets. As a matter of fact, if the alleged practice were occurring in the industry as mentioned, the IPMAN members would have been aware of it.