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From Ajiri Daniels, Abuja
The Association of Distributors and Transporters of Petroleum Products (ADITOP), and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) have agreed to scale up collaborations to improve the transportation and distribution of petroleum products across the country.
At a joint press conference in Abuja on Wednesday the two associations identified the welfare and safety of truck drivers, the incessant strikes by the drivers and poor condition of roads as major challenges hindering effective distribution of petroleum products across the country.
Addressing newsmen, Alhaji Lawan Dan-Zaki, the President of ADITOP noted that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd (NNPC) had sufficient stock of petroleum products at its depots but the major challenge was how to transport and distribute the products to retail points across the country.
According to him, this gap in the distribution chain was responsible for the current fuel scarcity experienced in many parts of the country.
Dan-Zaki said the new collaboration would wade into issues bothering on availability and distribution of petroleum products as well as address unnecessary strikes which lead to scarcity of the products.
“Transportation in the oil industry is very important because IPMAN owns the fuel stations while ADITOP owns the the trucks. So, this synergy would ensure that all the products are taken to their various stations.”
“Before now, we operated as separate bodies but with the growing crises in the sector, it has become important to collaborate with IPMAN to put an end to the issue of fuel scarcity,” he said.
Also speaking, the president of IPMAN, Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo expressed optimism that the partnership with ADITOP would ensure a seamless flow and distribution of petroleum products across the country.
According to him, the investment portfolio of IPMAN and ADITOP runs into trillions and the major fuel stations and tankers are the combined efforts of the two associations.
He said the collaboration would birth a new horizon in the oil industry where members can discuss their welfare and work towards reducing incessant strikes in the sector.
“Over time we’ve not been able to have this kind of synergy but if you look at the investment especially in transportation, it is huge; because it a condition that you must have trucks in order to become an independent marketer. ADITOP owns these tankers, so we must bring these facilities together and see how we can work together.
“I believe this collaboration would bring a new horizon in the industry where we can discuss our workers’ welfare and, by extension, reduce or eliminate incessant strikes in the system,” he said.
Okoronkwo also commended the association’s Consultant and Chairman of Benham Group, Dr. Maurice Ibe for their role in brokering the partnership between ADITOP and IPMAN.
In his remarks, Dr. Ibe lamented the hardship occasioned by the scarcity of petroleum products in many parts of the country.
He said it became necessary to broker a partnership deal between the oil marketers and the transporters to ease the problems surrounding distribution of the products.
“The products are not getting to Nigerians because the owners of the vehicles that convey the products seem to have lost control of their trucks to those who drive them.
“The products are being diverted to neighbouring countries thereby shortchanging Nigerians who rely on these products. People have literally hijacked the transportation of petroleum resources in the country.
“It has become necessary to bring these petroleum marketers and distributors together to form a synergy to alleviate the suffering of the masses and to make sure petroleum products reach the nooks and crannies of Nigeria,” he said.
