A civil society organization (CSO), International Eagle Watch, has condemned the current hardship faced by Nigerians, alleging that the situation is being compounded by sharp practices by petroleum marketers across the country.
Its National Convener, Sunday Udeh, in a statement in Enugu, Wednesday, alleged that many marketers and filling station owners engage in unethical practices, including meter tampering, under-dispensing, hoarding, and overpricing of fuel, which amplify the burden on Nigerian consumers.
He said that a random survey conducted by the organization across the six geopolitical zones indicated that over 70% of petroleum marketers are implicated in such schemes.
Udeh urged the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), led by Alhaji Abubakar Gerima, to activate its recently inaugurated committee on Monitoring, Surveillance, and Intelligence to tackle the menace.
“A random check across the six geopolitical zones confirms, among others, that over 70% of the marketers and filling station owners are involved in schemes short-changing consumers of petroleum products by meter tampering, under-dispensing, overpricing, and petroleum products hoarding,” he alleged.
“One of the options open to our organization is to call in the security agencies and other regulators; however, we choose to toe the path of reasoning by calling on IPMAN, the organization that houses the dealers and marketers of petroleum products across Nigeria, to whom the enormity of the plight of Nigerians is not lost.
“It is common knowledge, and our organization is aware, that IPMAN recently inaugurated a committee on Monitoring, Surveillance, and Intelligence gathering against illegal oil bunkering, pipeline vandalism, petroleum products adulteration, and other sharp practices.
“We hope the inauguration is not one of those phantom activities devoid of honest intentions. IPMAN, led by Alhaji Abubakar Shettima Gerima, should, without further delays, put the committee to work to checkmate the unwarranted pains caused to innocent Nigerians by these unscrupulous marketers.”
The group stated that failure by IPMAN to make immediate and impactful changes would compel the organization to leverage its civil society contacts to expose members responsible for these abuses.
