The diversion of petroleum products meant for consumption in the country has continued to flourish without a clear way to curb the menace.
Products diversion, which is put at 50 per cent currently, our correspondent gathered on Tuesday, covered both imported products and those refined in the country.
The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, said the issue of diversion of products meant for the country remained was a case of territorial protection, which was not the responsibility of the NNPC.
He declined to comment on the quantum of products being diverted, insisting that only the relevant authorities protecting the country’s borders would be in better position to give accurate figures.
Yakubu said, “The issue of territorial protection is beyond the NNPC,” and as such the corporation cannot affirm the level of progress made as far as checkmating the anomaly is concerned.
The Chairman, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Western Zone, Mr. Olumide Ogunmade, said it was the responsibility of the Department of Petroleum Resources to keep a tab on products meant for the country.
He said in a telephone interview with our correspondent that protecting the country’s territorial boundries, was the responsibility of the Nigerian Customs Service.
Ogunmade, who admitted that there were chances of product diversion, said, “The porous nature of our borders are not helping matters.”
He condemned the act of product diversion, saying that IPMAN Western Zone had yet to record any case.
Last year, the Port Harcourt Zone of IPMAN, Petroleum Tanker Drivers and Independent Marketers Branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Gas workers had raised the alarm over the constant evacuation of petroleum products from the Port Harcourt Refinery to unknown places in a communique issued at the end of a meeting.
The five-point communiqué was IPMAN, endorsed by the Chairman, Port Harcourt Unit, Mr. Sunny Nkpe; Chairman of NUPENG’s PTD; Mr. John Amajuoyi; and Chairman, IMB, NUPENG, Mr. Emmanuel Igwe Oluka.
The stakeholders vowed to take all civilised steps to check the trend.
The communiqué read in part, “We have discovered that these refined products have been evacuated to unknown destinations by vessels leaving the depot with nothing to distribute to the general public. We are not against marine loading of these products, but a situation where the depot does not have enough products to distribute and the products we have here are taken away by vessels is unacceptable.
“Based on the forgoing, if this constant evacuation of the products is not checked, we shall take all civilised steps to ensure that this denial of products to our depot is stopped.”
In December last year, the management of NNPC warned petroleum products marketers against diversion.
The situation became more worrisome when NNPC, through the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, said it had released enough petrol to sufficiently meet demand nationwide, but long fuel queues were noticeable at filling stations across the country.
The corporation had said, “Going by the quantity of Premium Motor Spirit that has been released by PPMC from the Kaduna Refinery for distribution to Abuja, we are not supposed to have queues at all in any filling station. Seventy one trucks of PMS were loaded from the refinery in Kaduna designated for Abuja, but the report we have shows that only 18 trucks arrived in Abuja.
“Another 45 trucks of PMS were loaded from Kaduna to Abuja, only 25 arrived. This clearly shows that some marketers are diverting the product, thereby causing unnecessary hardship to Nigerians.”
The Department of Petroleum Resources in llorin, Kwara State had recently expressed worry over the alleged diversion of petrol meant from the state.
It queried 25 marketers suspected to have diverted petrol meant for Kwara State in October 2012 to unknown destinations.
According to the Kwara State Operations Controller, DPR, Mr. Amos Jokodola, the agency’s records showed that 33,000 litres of PMS per truck lifted at NIPCO depot in Lagos by some companies were not delivered to llorin.
“Diversion of products is unlawful and it is responsible for scarcity of petroleum products. The department shall not allow unscrupulous marketers to cause pains to the masses. DPR will apply the penalty for diversion to marketers who can not satisfactorily account for products lifted,” he said.