IPMAN asserts private tank farms emergence crippled refineries

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association, (IPMAN) has attributed the collapse of Nigeria’s refineries to the birth of private tank farms.

Chairman of IPMAN in Rivers State, Dr Joseph Obele, made this assertion during a live Radio (93.7 Rhythm) programme monitored in Port Harcourt.

Obele charged the Federal Government to do away with bureaucracy if it was sincere in making refineries in the country functional.

He lamented that poor management was responsible for the non-functioning of the four refineries in the country.

According to him, about six factors contributed to the deplorable state of Nigeria’s refineries, noting that one is bureaucracy and bottleneck, while the second is the national cake syndrome.

He explained that if you are the managing director today, there is this syndrome that it is our thing; we have to consume ours.

He cited the third as the aggressive competition by private tank farms, stressing that the collapse of Nigeria’s refineries can be traced to the commencement or the history or the day the private tank farms started.

Obele argued that it is as a result of the incompetence of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation as well as political and ethnic interference, adding that the issue of the refineries is not technical but institutional.

He affirmed that the Federal Government should restore subsidy on petrol until the countries four refineries were operating optimally.

He highlighted that the benefits of removal of subsidy are enormous, stressing that subsidy pose a very big threat to new entrants.

He posited that removing subsidy is a great opportunity for new entrants, as it will bring boom to the industry, create employment opportunities as well as enhance competition in the sector.

He hinted that the big question was that it was not the right time do so.