Oil marketers have submitted the collated reports on the effects and consequences of the ethanol-blended Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, to the Federal Government.
Marketers stated on Monday that the bad fuel, which was imported into Nigeria in January, had damaged the vehicles of some petrol users, while many filling stations that purchased the product had incurred huge losses.
The PUNCH had exclusively reported last month that oil marketers were compiling the losses they incurred as a result of the purchase of the contaminated commodity and shall be demanding compensation from the Federal Government.
Filling station owners under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, the largest operators of retail outlets across the country, described the losses incurred due to the purchase of the methanol-blended fuel as terrible.
The National Secretary, IPMAN, Chief John Kekeocha, had stated that the contaminated petrol stopped the operations of many filling stations, a development that contributed to the lingering fuel scarcity in some parts of the country.
When contacted for updates as regards the compilation of losses incurred by filling stations, the IPMAN official told our correspondent that reports on the issue had been submitted to the government.
He said, “We have channeled some of the reports we have about the negative consequences of the bad fuel, they have been collated and channeled to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
“And I’m sure they are going to take proper decision on it very soon. What they did that time when the cry over the bad fuel was raised was that they stopped the circulation of the product.
“And obviously we believe that the remaining ones were sent back to companies that supplied it.”
Kekeocha, however, stated that filling stations’ customers whose vehicles were damaged by the bad fuel had to be compensated alongside marketers who incurred losses.
“The individuals who encountered problems, maybe you bought fuel and it damaged your vehicle and the rest of them, all those names we have collected them and forwarded to the Directorate of Petroleum Resources and I’m sure they are going to do something about it,” he stated.
On whether the petroleum ministry had given feedback to marketers, Kekeocha replied, “Not yet. The matter has not been closed out.
“It is when the matter is completely closed out that we will approach them to ask how far with the issues about the negative consequences of the bad fuel.”
The Federal Government had drafted a team of technical experts from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the downstream regulator to manage the crisis occasioned by the imported adulterated fuel.
Stakeholders in the team include members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, among others.
The NNPC spokesperson, Garba-Deen Muhammad, had confirmed to our correspondent that a technical committee had been set up to look into the matter, how the contaminated products would be managed and other issues around compensation.
When contacted on the matter, a senior official of the petroleum ministry, who pleaded not to be named, as he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said, “The issue is being looked into by the minister, as he earlier promised.”
