Aba Jan. 14, 2022
By Ijendu Iheaka
An Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Joint Taskforce (JTF) on Pipeline Vandalism, illegal bunkering and Product Adulteration, Aba Unit, Abia on Friday impounded two tankers bearing adulterated diesel.
The JTF operatives seized the tankers bearing 45, 000 liters each of adulterated diesel along Enugu - Port Harcourt Expressway in Aba in Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Area being conveyed to an undisclosed location.
The the drivers and occupants of the tankers escaped arrests when JTF were seeking to move them to their office abandoning the products near Tonimas Junction.
Mr Godfrey Chukwunyere, the JTF Chairman told newsmen at the scene that illegal oil bunkerers were closing their members businesses as they could not compete with the price at which the bunkerers sell their products.
He also said that the products which come from vandalized pipelines had cut them off from getting products from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) depot in Aba.
"We plead with the government of Abia State to come to our aid. We are trying our best to checkmate the activities of these illegal bunkers.
"We are doing our best but we need government support because these people are criminals who are bent on sabotaging the Nigerian economy and taking genuine oil marketers out of business.
"These vandals have filled the market with adulterated products that are very harmful to our people.
“We formed this task force to checkmate the nefarious activities of illegal bunkers and make sure that none of our marketers is involved in this.
"We also want to ensure that any of our members found to be collaborating with these vandals is delisted and reported to the relevant authorities.
"We are happy that so far none of our members is involved in this. These people are criminals and must be stopped. We cannot fold our hands to allow them to take us out of business”, he said.
Chukwunyere said their union want the stoppage of the bunkering on Port Harcourt -Aba pipelines which deprives them of supplies from Aba NNPC depot so that they can do their businesses and pay the necessary taxes.
Chief Nwandu Anyawu, Chairman, Oil and Gas Suppliers (OGS) branch of NUPENG Aba unit, said they believed the suspects got the products around the boundary of Rivers and Abia.
He suggested that they were entering Aba to distribute them before they were caught.
“We are calling on the governor to kindly assist us to fight and win this battle with these people because their activities are affecting everybody.
"We can't load in the Depot again. Their activities in the pipeline are killing businesses. These people sell cheaper than the NNPC price in the Depot. They break pipelines and take refined products to sell illegally”, he said.
Mr Chidiadi Achibiri, the Public Relations Officer of the OGS branch of NUPENG, Aba unit said that the issue on the ground involved marketing illegally gotten and adulterated petroleum products.
"They have faked documents forged to enable them to move these products as if they were gotten from the Depot.
"They are bringing these products from Rivers State but we have our people here checking them because the Depot here in Aba is no longer functioning”, he said.
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