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From Judex Okoro, Calabar
The Cross River government has stated that arrangements are to partner with the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and its affiliate major stakeholders in Calabar Depot in repositioning the oil sector in the state.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Anthony Owan Enoh, who disclosed this at the courtesy visit on him in by leadership of IPMAN and other affiliate bodies operating in the Calabar Petroleum Depot, commended the oil sector players for their efforts to amicably resolve issues while putting the overall interest of all stakeholders above personal and minute interests.
While thanking the delegation for the visit, the SSG recalled the misconstrued notion arising from his presence at an event involving the national IPMAN official and others in Calabar, insisting that he was there on an individual capacity, not as official of government.
He said: “When last we met some of your members somehow the impression was that the state government was being partisan because my presence at the occasion signaled government support for the action of one Mr Okim Abang.
“When I got the reaction from IPMAN stakeholders, I did one thing which someone said was very unusual. To write a kind of apology explaining that my presence at the said event was purely personal, reason why I did not make any statement. So when I heard of the outcry from you, I had to tender my unreserved apology with all humility.”
Harping on the importance of the oil sector and the need for cooperation, Prof. Enoh posited, “I think the state government is grateful for the hard work and harmony in the oil sector. The Nigerian economy is heavily dependent on oil and any sneeze in the sector affects the entire nation. CRS is not excluded. We would work with you and would not be the one to cause any problem in the oil sector.
“We crave for harmony in the oil sector. Because only through harmony, calm, understanding among stakeholders can the government have the best.
We know the role you play in terms of your contributions to the growth of the economy of the state in supply, taxes and other revenue sources. All that, the government recognises.
I am here to convey the governor’s deep appreciation in time past. We shall continue to drive the affairs of this state, using the oil sector to derive the best for the government.”
Reassuring IPMAN of government support, the SSG stated that it is high time everybody came together in synergy to get the best for this state adding that the “state government can work in partnership with the various stakeholders in the oil sector for the betterment of our dear state and nation at large.”
Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Prince Robert Obi, used the opportunity to congratulate Governor Bassey Otu and his deputy, Rt. Hon. Peter Odey, on their electoral victory, inauguration and assumption of office, as well as the governor’s wise selection of a technocrat in the person of Prof. Anthony Owan Enoh as Secretary to the State Government.
Obi said the purpose of the visit was to introduce the IPMAN leadership and stakeholders of the Depot community to the government through the SSG, solicit the present administration’s support, as well as pledge IPMAN’s unflinching cooperation to the Otu-led government.
The IPMAN boss thanked Prof. Enoh for his humility in tendering an apology over his hitherto misconstrued presence at an event, midwifed by the Union’s dissidents and birthed by one Mr. Okim Abang (who was, in 2022, barred by the then government from interfering with activities of Depot operations), calculated to stall the peace of IPMAN and its affiliate bodies.
He drew government’s attention to the untoward activities of Mr Peter Okim Abang, which he said, almost pitched youths of Esuk Utan Community (host community) and depot operators against each other, based on false, misleading and inciting information about diesel.
He advised the government to be wary of individual’s crisis-prone machinations intended to cause chaos between host communities and the depot and fete their fat pockets and selfish aggrandizement.
Other bodies that were at he courtesy visit include the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), National Union of Petroleum Employees and Natural Gas (NUPENG), Petroleum Tanker Drivers Association, Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Independent Marketers Branch (IMB), and Pump Station Workers of NUPENG (PSW).
