By Our Reporter
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), on Thursday, cautioned the Federal Government against its move to harmonise agencies in the petroleum industry.
The Association said the call became necessary in order not to erode the much expected gains of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
According to IPMAN, such plan may worsen the plight of the poorest of the poor in the country.
The National Public Relations Officer of IPMAN, Alhaji Yakubu Usman, gave the advice in Abuja.
Usman, who said the organisation considered reaching the government through the media at this time so as to prevent impending woes the policy would bring, warned that the action might bring untold hardships on the masses who are already groaning under many tedious economic difficulties.
He maintained that a stakeholders’ meeting is most desirable at this time because it would guarantee a smooth policy transition to a full deregulation of the petroleum sector and further strengthen the expected derivatives from the proposed PIB.
Resolutions from such a meeting at this auspicious period, according to the spokesman, would further enhance the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) which happens to be the policy that is most relevant to the downstream sector of the industry.
While stressing the stand of the independent marketers on the proposed harmonisation of government agencies in the industry, Usman said, “For us, the Petroleum Equalisation Fund is most important and very relevant to the current realities in the industry.
“Without the PEF, truth be told, the import of PIB will be completely eroded.
“The PEF is supposed to be the main vehicle that will drive the industry and indicate that the government is really working out the PIB to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians.
“Therefore, if we really want to help the industry and we really want to encourage the stakeholders in the industry, especially IPMAN members, the PEF must be sustained.
“This is because it remains the number one cardinal point.
“Without the PEF, those nationalistic ideas that made our forefathers like President Olusegun Obasanjo and the late Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed, to establish the PEF would have been killed.
“Simply put, scrapping the PEF clearly implies that our present leaders have not appreciated the efforts of those heroes who fashioned the policy as well as those who had sustained it after them.”
He said without the PEF, the IPMAN would vacate the stage naturally.
“We are sure that knowing the role we are playing presently in the industry, the government would not wish to manage the crises that would emanate in the distribution network if the IPMAN is forced out of the industry due to policies that could destabilise the industry,” he said.
Usman said he was optimistic that the stakeholders’ meeting to deliberate on the sustenance of PEF would impact positively on the masses in every part of the country.
