The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) says the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL) has allocated petrol to its members directly to ease scarcity.

Chinedu Okoronkwo, the National President of IPMAN, confirmed this on Tuesday in Lagos.

Mr Okoronkwo said the order was directed after a close door meeting of IPMAN executive and NNPCL management.

He said the meeting resolved that IPMAN members should load petrol at NIPCO, MRS and other loading depots.

He said the NNPCL management had confirmed that the product had been released to the depots for immediate loading by IPMAN members.

He said IPMAN members were encouraged to upgrade their POS to G4 or G5 for payment efficiency.

According to him, “Members without POS are also advised to acquire it for efficiency.

“The arrangement was in collaboration with NNPCL Retails Ltd. and IPMAN.

“IPMAN Members are advised to open up their stations and start selling to the public nationwide.”

Mr Okoronkwo said IPMAN was a responsible association with over 85 per cent filling stations across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

He added that lPMAN would in a few days also massively load at NIPCO and MRS depots massively for South-West and North-West subregions of the country.

Mr Okoronkwo enjoined members who had made payments to commence loading of petrol from the designated depots.

He said the meeting was attended by National President of IPMAN, Chinedu Okoronkwo; the Chairman BOT, IPMAN, Abdulkardir Aminu and other executive committee members of IPMAN.

He said Adeyemi Adetunji, the Executive Vice President Downstream; Lawal Sade, the Managing Director of the NNPCL Trading and Huub Stokman, Managing Director, NNPC Retail Limited were also in attendance.

Consequently, lPMAN has reversed its earlier order that its members should suspend all operations across the country.

The directive overriding the initial “shut-down-of- operations” order was contained in a two-paragraph statement by its Chairman, Mohammed Kuluwa.

Mr Kuluwa said that IPMAN had ordered immediate reversal and directed oil marketers to resume operations nationwide.

Entitled: “Re: Suspension of service,” the statement dated February 7, reads: “Having met with the concerned authorities, all filling stations should open with immediate effect and continue selling while the association continues with further consultations.

“We will accordingly keep you informed.”

IPMAN had earlier directed its members to suspend payment for products from source until further notice.

The association had given the directive in a statement issued on February 7 by Kuluwa.

(NAN)