Nigerians have been asked not to blame the Federal Government for the lingering fuel crisis in the country, but rather, blame the leadership of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).
Interim Management Secretary of IPMAN, Lawson Ngoa, said the rivalry between two IPMAN national factions has crippled the importation and distribution of petroleum products in Nigeria especially by independent marketers who control about 80 per cent of the fuel distribution network in the country.
The IPMAN official further exonerated the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Dr. Ibe Kachikwu from being the cause of the petrol crisis, stating that the two years power tussle and in-house disagreements had strongly contributed to the present fuel situation. He said Kachikwu had only mediated to end the crisis.
He noted that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, in trying to reconcile the factions and revive sanity in their operations, inaugurated IPMAN reconciliation and interim management committee to resolve the crisis and how it contributes to scarcity of petroleum products.
Ngoa said with the association now reconciled, IPMAN is now ready to commence distribution of petroleum products nationwide.
“With the increase in percentage of product to IPMAN and other incentives made available by the federal government through the minister of petroleum, the fuel scarcity will end in weeks,” said Ngoa.