Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Kwara state chapter has said that anytime from now, it will suspend sale of fuel to members of the public in the state.
The association said its action is informed by the recent unfriendly policy of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company, PPMC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
Addressing journalists on Friday, February 12, 2021, in Ilorin, the state capital, IPMAN Chairman in the state Abdullateef Kamaja, said stakeholders were not duly consulted before rolling out “the NNPC recent e-payment policy tagged customers express payment.”
He added that “directs marketers to provide some other prerequisites like bulk purchase agreement renewal, BPA, the procurement involves high cost and a lot of bureaucratic bottlenecks.”
Alhaji Kamaja therefore urged the PPMC to rescind the decision, noting that it is too sudden as the marketers were not consulted before hand.
He said: “The implementation was also so sudden that no marketer could have made any effort to comply with NNPC guidelines. This to us, is viewed as a means to paralyse IPMAN members’ efforts to contribute to national economic development.
“Before the introduction of the present policy there had been many paid tickets from marketers running to billions of Naira in the coffers of the NNPC which were not attended to. Several factors like network failure and inability of marketers to have code payment militated against the former procedure.
“It is hereby wished that the current directive is abrogated pending a proper consultation and deliberation with marketers.
“It is imperative for the NNPC to always consult with the marketers before bringing up any policy as this will ensure harmonious and peaceful relationship between her and the marketers who act as the bridge to the consuming masses.
“If our herein stated suggestions are not met we may have no option than to down tools by closing down our stations.”
Source: The Nation
