As the ongoing fuel scarcity in Nigeria continues to linger, the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has distanced itself from an allegation that its members are smugging 16.6 billion litres of petrol to neighbouring countries.
A top official of the Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMA) was recently quoted to have attributed the fuel scarcity to the diversion of products to neighbouring countries.
Amongst other things, the official said no less than 46 million goes out of the country illegally every day, adding that even though the marketers keep denying it, how the products go missing remains unanswerable.
“We had a meeting with the PPMC some weeks ago, and part of the complaints was that the volume we load is too high, forcing them to reduce the volume they give to us. From their records, they said marketers loaded 106 million litres per day as of April.
“Nigeria consumes 60 million litres per day, where are the remaining litres of fuel going? They are taken outside the country. That’s a product Nigeria is paying heavily to subsidise, and marketers are busy taking it out and denying Nigerians full benefits of what they pay for,” the official was quoted as saying.
However, responding to the allegation, the Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Clement Isong said the group’s members operate a fully integrated business model, adding that it would be impossible to smuggle products out of the country.
“They know who they are accusing, and it’s definitely not our members. We buy products from the NNPC to our depots, and then distribute them to our stations. So, they can’t be accusing major oil marketers of diversion because we run a fully integrated business model”, he added.
