The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) South-West Zone disputed claims that its national body did not receive kerosene allocation from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Speaking to journalists at the weekend, the Chairman, IPMAN Western Zone, Mr Olumide Ogunmade, said the presentation made by the National President, Alhaji  Abdulkadri Aminu to the ad-hoc committee probing the rots in the oil subsidy regime was false.

Ogunmade confirmed that IPMAN and its affiliates in all zones actually received kerosene product from the NNPC, but it was not sufficient. “When I listen to our national president’s presentation on the issues of kerosene allocation on the ongoing NNPC probe, I discovered that it was not the true position. We at the Western zone of IPMAN disagreed with the position of the national president that NNPC has not given our members kerosene  I say emphatically that we benefited from NNPC kerosene allocation.”

Ogunmade, however, claimed that his zone did not benefit in any way from the petroleum support fund subsidy largesse given to IPMAN and put at over N11 billion.

“NNPC supplies kerosene to IPMAN through the Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCO). NIPCO is an umbrella firm of all independent marketers through which IPMAN receives allocation. The problem is that the kerosene does not get to the zones at the official price of N50 whereas the government had paid subsidy on it to the national body of IPMAN. Instead of the subsidy to flow to the zones, it is held exclusively by the national body. This is why the cost of kerosene is high,” he explained.

“We implore NNPC and its subsidiaries to do better if they want us to serve the whole nation effectively at N50 and ensure that it is sufficient and available. If NNPC supplies kerosene product to NIPCO and we are not supplied at appropriate price, then something is wrong some where and NNPC cannot be blamed.

“We are not involved in the IPMAN investment, we have never been consulted and I want to tell the world that no members of our association from the south west benefitted a single product from the scheme. Since the EFCC is investigating the issues, we should allow them to do their job,” he said.

He commented on the new PMS price regime by stating that “increased price of PMS should also reflect increase in profit margin, but the reverse is the case. If you look at the template margin, it still remains the same when it was at N65 per litre.”

He argued that new margin on PMS introduced by PPPRA might be threatening marketers and might also result in scarcity if not reviewed.

“It is going to be a threat to us very soon. This issue will lead to crisis in the future and we don’t want to be blamed for this, so the template has to be adjusted to reflect our margin on investment. We cannot be going to banks to borrow money without reasonable comfort in terms of appreciable profit that is required as marketers.”

He, however, urged the government to critically examine the issues so as not to cause hindrance to supply of products in the country.

On the state of the country’s refineries, he implored government to invest more on existing refineries and build more refineries in the six geo-political zone of the country. “We can do more on the refineries if it is maintained. We can also build new refineries so that the issue of importation will not arise. The amount we are spending on subsidy could be used to build new refineries,” he concluded.