The National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Abubakar Maigandi has reacted to claims by the President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote that the 650,000 barrels per day refinery currently holds 500 million litres of premium motor spirit, commonly referred to as petrol, ready for distribution to Nigerians.
Maigandi who appeared on Channels TV on Wednesday explained that this situation arose because members selected by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) to collect products on its behalf were unable to load petrol from the Refinery in Lagos for four days.
He expressed the readiness of IPMAN members to buy the petrol if Dangote Refinery is willing to sell directly to them, emphasising that oil marketers have been unable to retrieve products from the refinery, even after paying N40 billion to the NNPCL.
Maigandi said, “If he (Dangote) can be able to sell the product to us directly, we can buy the product because we have to pay before we pick. Presently, we have N40billion under the NNPCL custody, but we cannot source the product.
“Just recently, there are some of my marketers that NNPCL sent to load in Dangote Refinery, and those marketers stayed with their trucks for four days, and they cannot load. So I was surprised when Dangote said he has over 500 million litres of PMS. We are ready to buy the product from Dangote if he is ready to sell it to us directly.”
The IPMAN leader stated that instead of sourcing Dangote petrol through the NNPCL, the private refinery should directly register independent petrol marketers to facilitate smoother loading of the product.
LEADERSHIP recalls that on Tuesday, Dangote urged petroleum marketers, including the NNPCL to source petrol directly from his refinery to meet local demand.
He stated that the refinery can produce over 30 million litres of fuel daily at full capacity and currently holds 500 million litres in reserve, enough to supply the country for over 12 days without imports.
Dangote assured that the refinery is prepared to supply fuel following private discussions with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja.
“We’re more than ready,” Dangote assured State House Correspondents, adding that the refinery’s production capacity could offset Nigeria’s fuel needs significantly.
“It is not an issue because, as we speak today, we have 500 million litres, you know, in our tanks. So 500 million litres in our tanks even if there’s no production from anybody or no imports. This will take the country more than 12 days, you know, with no imports, with no production, nothing,” he added.
