Southern oil marketers quit national body over subsidy
From Niyi Bello, Akure
A MAJOR crack has been inflicted on the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) by the restoration of the N1 per litre bridging cost for North bound fuel.
The Federal Government re-introduced the amount last Wednesday to ease the financial burden for lifting fuel from petroleum depots in the south to northern marketers in the country.
But the southern members of the IPMAN considered the government's gesture as being unfair to them and anti-thetical to the deregulation of the petroleum sector.
At a meeting of all the branches of the association in southern states, held in Benin, the Edo State capital last Thursday, members rejected the leadership of the National President, Alhaji Abu Jajere and inaugurated southern IPMAN to cater for the interests or marketers in the zone.
They based their action on the insistence by Jajere and members of the northern zone of IPMAN that the government should restore the bridging costs known as Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) and National Transport Allowance (NTA).
The government yielded to the northern marketers' demand after a strike by the northern chapter of IPMAN and the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) during which fuel prices reached as high as N1,000 per gallon in Abuja last Wednesday.
PEF and NTA were introduced by the government to reduce transportation costs of fuel from the south to the northern part of the country to achieve a uniform price of petrol at fuel stations in the country.
Under the arrangement, which was backed by a decree, northern marketers got one naira for every litre of the product lifted from southern deports to ease the cost of transportation.
A seven point statement by all the zonal and depot chairmen in the southern zone of IPMAN condemned the position of Jajere. The statement also declared that the chairmen were pulling out of the national IPMAN.
The statement, copies of which were made available to The Guardian in Akure at the weekend, was signed by Chief Olatunji Aderoju (Western Zone), Wilfred Akponyoma (Mid West Zone) and Chief Festus Onyima (Eastern Zone). The Southern marketers declared that Jajere's position negated the resolution of IPMAN National Executive Committee on the issue at a meeting held in Abuja on November 23.
"Consequently, it is hereby unequivocally resolved that Alhaji Abu Jajere no longer represents the interests of the totality of south IPMAN members on the PEF issue and as such should not be taken seriously by the Petroleum Product Prices Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) palliative committee and other government agencies on issues relating to PEF and NTA", the statement stated.
They declared further that in view of the last development, the PPPRA and the palliative committee should consult with the southern members of the national executive of IPMAN on issues relating to petroleum marketing.
"Without any prejudice to our recommendation, any attempt to bring back PEF/NTA under any guise will be vehemently resisted by the totality of southern IPMAN members", they stressed.
The meeting also viewed the total cancellation of PEF as appropriate in the deregulation of downstream sector of the petroleum industry since the essence of the PEF decree was to operate under a regulated environment.
"We also note with satisfaction, the position of PPPRA that the N49.00 per litre base line for petrol is the minimum at which marketers can sell and we observe that even now, prices are at variance within the south, federal capital territory and the far North, which is in the spirit of deregulation."
Speaking with The Guardian on the issue yesterday, the vice chairman of the western zone, Tunji Aderoju and the public relations officer, Elder Dele Olatunji stated that even under a regulated dispensation, PEF failed woefully to achieve uniform prices across the country not to talk of a deregulated period."
According to Aderoju, "REF and NTA constitute cheating of southerners as marketers from the south bear the extra one naira per litre cost of transporting fuel to northern marketers.
He asked: "Who pays for transportation of cows and other commodities from the North to the South? Will Northern Cow sellers accept paying extra cost for transporting cows to southern butchers"?.
