Oil traders charge NNPCL with extensive fraud

The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, or NNPCL, has been charged with fraud by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, or IPMAN.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was urged by the oil marketers to put an end to what they claimed was exploitation in the sale of petroleum products.

Folalu Ebenezer, the Secretary of the IPMAN/NNPC PDO Forum, spoke to reporters on Thursday in Apapa, Lagos.

Ebenezer endorsed the elimination of fuel subsidies and urged the President to concentrate on the alleged racketeering by NNPCL officials.

According to him, IPMAN must use Authority To Pay (ATP) to pay for product loading at a designated Private Deport (PDO) before it is supplied by the NNPCL.

Ebenezer bemoaned the fact that marketers were still waiting for access to the product months after payments were made via the NNPCL portal.

“Some of our members have tickets up to nine months before the removal of the fuel subsidy, but they have not been able to load products,” he said.

Ebenezer remembered that there had been an increase in January 2023, requiring marketers to pay an extra N1,072,000 per ticket.

“Our members have yet to lift the products, even after payment. 500 Dynamic tickets, which total over 4,500, have yet to drop on the portal.

“NNPCL is now requesting additional N13,702,000 on each ticket from IPMAN members who already have tickets for the products,” he griped.

The scribe also charged the national oil company with diverting the goods its customers paid for to unofficial tank farms and private businesses.