The Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has sent a strong warning to members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports NMDPRA sent the strong warning to IPMAN members, especially those in Ogun State, over sharp practices being perpetrated by the petrol marketers.
The authority listed some of the sharp practices to include infractions such as pump under-dispensing and operating without approval.
The authority also threatened to begin shutting down stations without valid permits from March.
The State Coordinator of NMDPRA, Mr Akinyemi Atilola, issued the warning during a special enlightenment and stakeholders’ engagement with the IPMAN executives, Mosimi branch.
Atilola underscored the need for customers to get value for their money, declaring that a penalty would be meted out to erring stations according to the number of fuel pumps sealed.
“I am not a vanguard of using money as a consequence or correctional measure, rather it should be the last employment of consequence management.
“However, as I came here, I found out that many of the under-dispensing were just based on per location, per station, per plant.
“This means that if I close down your station because you are under-dispensing, and I decommission your pumps, it’s only N100,000 you come here to pay. No, that’s not what is going to happen now.
“You will pay according to the number of pumps that have been sealed. So, if five of your pumps are being decommissioned, you are paying N500,000 because the law says N100,000 per pump.
“As an executive of IPMAN, please tell your members to work on their calibration, it’s value for money. Make sure 10 litres is 10 litres,” he said.
He also warned against delay in the renewal of permits, use of consultants by IPMAN members as well as what he described as poor housekeeping.
Atitola told the IPMAN executives that implementation of the latest directive on the truck loading capacity exceeding 60,000 litres would begin from March 1.
“NMDPRA is an enabler of businesses and not a killer, the authority remains committed to driving the five cardinal points of the present administration.
“The five cardinal points of the federal government are that the government wants to see the growth in SMEs, they want to see that there is eradication of poverty in the land.
“They want to see that a lot of people are being employed. The use of gas for expansion and utilisation and the growth of our industries.
“Those are the five cardinal points of this administration and we have to follow suit,” he said.
The IPMAN executive members, led by the Chairman, Chief Salimon Ajayi, applauded the authority for organising the stakeholders’ engagement.
He assured the authority of the members’ cooperation to ensure security of fuel supply.
“We will cooperate with you, and stand by you to succeed,” Ajayi said.