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| Diezani Alison-Madueke, Petroleum Resources Minister |
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is to commence direct distribution of kerosene to households in the country through the use of ultra-modern mobile fuel dispensing trucks.
The project, to be carried out by the corporation’s downstream retail outfit, NNPC Retail Limited, in conjunction with a major player in the downstream petroleum products storage and distribution business, Capital Oil and Gas Limited, was designed to provide a lasting solution to the challenge in the distribution of kerosene to homes in Nigeria.
Speaking at the flag-off of the pilot scheme at the weekend, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division at the NNPC, Dr Levi Ajuonuma, said the exercise, which would begin in the Lagos area, would provide an invaluable knowledge base for the NNPC in good time to perfect any noticeable shortcomings in the programme before the eventual full blown deployment of the dispensing trucks.
“Our determination to arrest this artificial challenge in the distribution of kerosene to Nigerians is total. What we are doing here today is to guarantee that the product gets to the end user at the right time and correct price of N50 per litre,” Ajuonuma said.
He disclosed that the deployment of the mobile dispensing trucks was not just an ad hoc exercise “but a well thought out product distribution strategy by the NNPC Retail and Capital Oil designed to complement the conventional method of selling kerosene at regular filling stations.”
Under the arrangement, NNPC Retail will provide the product, while Capital Oil will make available its ultra-modern dispensing trucks. Each of the trucks has a capacity of 33,000 litres of kerosene, but to ensure that profiteers do not exploit the situation, nobody would be allowed to buy more than 25 litres.
Also to reduce the risk involved in the cash transactions, customers are expected to come with a kerosene voucher which can be purchased at the nearest NNPC Retail Mega/Affiliate stations.
“Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, earlier this year inaugurated the trucks and the ultra-modern Capital Oil and Gas loading gantry in Apapa. So what we are doing right now is in furtherance of this vision to ensure complete sanitisation of product distribution channel as we believe that the provision of alternate and direct sales point like this would go a long way in curbing profiteering,” Ajuonuma stated.
Commenting on the partnership, Chairman/CEO of Capital Oil and Gas, Mr Ifeanyi Uba, disclosed that the company was deploying a fleet of 200 trucks in the test run. He urged members of the public to support the project, which he described as “Capital Oil’s response to the recent call by Mrs Alison-Madueke on downstream players to innovate means of product distribution”.
Meanwhile, the NNPC at the weekend distributed 30,000 metric tonnes of DPK between members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) for onward distribution to the filling stations operated by their members across the country.
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