National Telescope national telescope newspaper
Following the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s deadline for license collection, approximately 9,000 oil marketers are at risk of closure.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has appealed for an extension of the renewal deadline until July.
This plea comes amidst ongoing fuel scarcity in the country. IPMAN also urges the release of 9,000 processed licenses by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority to its members.
The association’s request, aimed at easing the current petroleum product scarcity, was communicated by Chief Chinedu Ukadike, the National Public Relations Officer, in Abuja on Thursday.
IPMAN expressed concern over the slow pace of license renewals and emphasized the need for an extension to facilitate license reconciliation and reduce public panic buying exacerbating the fuel shortage.
The statement read, “The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria are abreast with current developments in the downstream sector of our petroleum industry and wish to state that the latest information reaching us from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority states that they have already processed more than 9,000 out of the 15,000 licenses they are expected to process for our members within this period.
“Marketers are fast-tracking the processing of their licenses to avoid the impending closure of their customer express portals for purchase of petroleum products from NNPC Retail Limited.
“We, therefore, use this opportunity to appeal to the management of the NMDPRA and NNPC Retail Limited to respectively release the processed licenses and extend the deadline for delisting of marketers from their express portals. If our request is granted, it will ease the tension of panic buying by members of the public in order not to aggravate the present scarcity of petroleum products.”
