Oscarline Onwuemenyi
20 August 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has called on the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) to ensure that petroleum products are efficiently distributed to Nigerians without any diversion.
Baru, who made this call to the association while receiving the enlarged National Executive Committee of the IPMAN at the NNPC Towers in Abuja, also called on the leadership of the IPMAN to enforce the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA)’s retail price band for all petroleum products across all its retail outlets.
In a statement signed by Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Garba Deen Muhammad, Baru also solicited for the support of the IPMAN towards ensuring efficient distribution of petroleum products nationwide before, during and after the ember months.
He urged the IPMAN to use its vast network of distribution outlets in the downstream sector across the country to deliver petroleum products to the people without engaging in diversion of products and also enjoined the association to take advantage of the liberalisation policy of the downstream sector by the federal government to import petroleum products so as to keep the country wet with petroleum products.
Earlier, the president of the IPMAN, Chief Obasi Lawson, revealed that peace has returned to the leadership of the association after its conflict, adding that it is prepared to use its various filling stations to ensure effective supply and distribution of petroleum products for the benefit of Nigerians.
Also speaking, the IPMAN board of trustee chairman, Alhaji Aminu Abdulkadir, congratulated the GMD on his appointment, stressing that the omen of his appointment brought unity to the lingering crises in the association.
He also expressed the readiness of the association to support the GMD and his management team to succeed in their task of ensuring seamless supply and distribution of petroleum products in the country.