•Say new arrangement would be a disaster
Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) has warned of severe consequences should the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) reverse the kerosene allocation guidelines which it said would put its members at a disadvantage when compared to the major oil marketers.
The association said the arrangement as proposed by NNPC would further exacerbate the current kerosene scarcity.
DAPPMA, along with Jetty and Tank Farm Owners of Nigeria (JEPTFON), has also expressed doubts over the success of the 40 days of sufficient and unfettered supply of kerosene which the NNPC promised the nation.
Both DAPPMA and JEPTFON sarcastically noted that the volume could be on the high seas, but would only be meaningful if it gets to the appropriate channels of distribution through which it can then only get to the consuming public.
“It’s not just about 40 days sufficiency on the high seas, until it goes through the system and this system has to be the infrastructure that is on ground. We do know the distribution of this product is through licensed retailers, surface tanks, then to jerry can, then to bottles before it gets to the true consumers. So you can have 40 days on the high seas, until you use the channels that allow this 40 days sufficiency to get to the true consumers, it may not be realistic.”
But Levi Ajuonuma, NNPC spokesperson assured that the 40 days sufficiency is real, even as he conducted journalists round the vessel that brought in 30,000metric tons of kerosene to be distributed to marketers at the Apapa port.
Following the scarcity of the commodity, the NNPC said it will review its allocation procedure and also drop some of its affiliate marketers that have been fingered as culprits in the scarcity scandal.
This threat has obviously not gone down well with some marketers.
BusinessDay investigations meanwhile reveal that some of the oil marketers are truly responsible for the kerosene scarcity which has resulted in the high price of the product across the country. The price of the commodity ranges from between N150 and N200 per litre, depending on the location of sales in the country.
The marketers are alleged to be diverting kerosene to service the aviation sector, after getting the product from NNPC at N40 .90. The product ordinarily should be sold to consumers at N50, but is instead diverted out of sheer greed of making higher returns.
An inside source who volunteered information to BusinessDay said, “The marketers have engaged in serious profiteering as the product which they collect from NNPC at N40.90 kobo is converted to Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) and sold for N160 per litre, thereby making huge profits from the commodity. About N100 is therefore realised from a litre sold to the aviation sector.”
None of the marketers who spoke with BusinessDay confirmed to have got kerosene from NNPC in recent times. Yet, they understandably, have not imported ATK into the country in a long time, but have maintained their steady supply chain to the aviation industry.
According to sources close to NNPC, the Corporation had in the last few weeks sustained a daily “push out” of about 5.8 million litres of kerosene to the marketers who are supposed to make up for the remaining 3 million litres being part of an arrangement between NNPC and the marketers. The marketers’ 3 million liter “support” was to make up for the 8 million litres which is the nation’s daily consumption figure.
A signed communique by Sylvarius Okoli, DAPPMA chairman in conjunction with Jetty and Tank Farm Owners of Nigeria, after several hours of deliberation at the weekend, noted that the guideline was drawn up without their (marketers’) input, but was rather, the outcome of a meeting between NNPC and Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN).
DAPPMA which further alleged that the guideline was drawn to give undue advantage to MOMAN, added that the arrangement would further exacerbate the scarcity of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) nationwide.
“Any attempt to restrict distribution of DPK to MOMAN members only will be a disaster because other excluded stakeholders control about 80 percent of infrastructure of efficient reception, storage and distribution of petroleum products. We therefore reject these new guidelines and request that the group general manager of NNPC should immediately convene a meeting of all stakeholders to stipulate guidelines that will genuinely address the problems of supply and distribution of DPK across the nation and in the interest of the common man.”
Okoli specifically berated NNPC management for concluding that, “Our own group of marketers are indiscipline,” stressing, “We have invested so much on the state of the art infrastructure for supply. I do not see how anybody can see our group as indiscipline and others not,” the communique read.
