Oil Suppliers and Marketers Multipurpose Co-operative Society Limited ,Enugu , Thursday, conferred patron awards on five distinguished individuals, assuring
adequate and uninterrupted supply of petroleum products to Enugu State and South East.
The group appealed to the patrons to assist them in building a permanent Secretariat and tackling other challenges.
Chairman of the Oil Suppliers and Marketers Multipurpose Cooperative society, Enugu, Dr. Oliver Ngwoke spoke in his welcome address at the award ceremony held at IPMAN Secretariat, Emene, Enugu.
Pix: Dr Oliver Ngwoke
He said the Oil Suppliers and Marketers’ Multi-purpose Co-operative Society limited was formed on November 2008 as a Child of necessity but, officially recognized by the Government in January 2009 under the Nigeria Co-operative Societies decree no. 90 of 1993.
This platform according to him, “gave opportunity for members to raise fund and engage in the business of petroleum products marketing, trying to bridge the supply gap in South East, Nigeria.
Pix: The Awardees
Speaking on the activities of the Cooperative he said, the society had sustained their members who lost their jobs as a result of the moribund NNPC oil depot in Enugu occasioned by pipeline vandalism.
Dr Ngwoke added that Co-operative Society Limited procures petrol, kerosene and diesel from various oil depots in the country and brings to the South East and supplies to her members and other retail outlets.
” I make bold to say that most of the shareholders have recovered all the money invested in this cooperative society.The cooperative society is 16 years in existence as one of the foremost Cooperative Society that are engage in the procurement and distribution of petroleum products in South East ,Nigeria.
“We shall continue to ensure that there are adequate and uninterrupted supply of these products to Enugu State and South East in general”, he said..
Pix: Chinedu Anyaso, Chairman,IPMAN,Enugu state
He promised that the investments made by the shareholders shall continue to grow in leaps and bounds.
The chairman assured that the ongoing filling station project of the Corporative at Ugwogo Nike would soon be commissioned for public use.
On conferment of the awards, Dr Ngwoke said since the inception of the cooperative society they had only awarded patron to two of their members i, Late Chief Alphonsus Ebelide, who died recently,, and Mrs. Uchenna Ukah. He added that as a result of the gap created by the demise of one of their patrons, they deemed it necessary to select other eminent personalities in the oil and ga industry to play the fatherly role for them.
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The executive, after thorough screening and wide consultations selected four eminent persons honoured with the award of patrons .
He appealed for assistance from the awardees, saying, , on behalf of our members , I implore these awardees to give their maximum support financially, morally and otherwise to the cooperative society.
Regrettably, we have some challenges that impede our growth. The most important need of the cooperative society is acquiring a parcel of land for our permanent operational base. Equally, raising our capital outlay to be able to meet the rising order price triggered by the deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector, among others,” he said.
The group assured continuous partnership with the NNPC Depot Community to ensuring industrial harmony and uninterrupted supply and distribution of petroleum products especially in forthcoming Yuletide season.
Pix: Mrs Uchenna Uka
The awardees , Emmanuel Sunday Nwankwo. Chief Chinedu Anyaso (Odiofele), Chief Oliver Ezeike (Nkpokiti Jesus) and Chief Sunday Ugwu (Ohamadike) and Mrs. Uchenna Ukah, whose award was renewed ,thanked the Cooperative Society for the honour done them. They promised continuous support to the group.
Pix: Chinedu Anyaso
In an interview, the chairman of Independent Petroleum Marketing Association of Nigeria ( IPMAN) Enugu Depot unit( Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi states) and chairman of Deport Community, Chinedu Anyaso said the awards came as a result of their services and commitment towards the progress of the wellbeing of the members of the Oil suppliers and marketers mult- purpose Cooperative Society Nigeria Limited . He promised to support the society in all it’s activities geared towards the supply ,sales and distribution of petrol products .
He also promised to support them in conflict resolutions, saying I will work assiduously to support them in that angle.
Anyaso spoke on adjustment of fuel meters and short- changing of consumers by filing station, disclosing that they formed a taskforce committee that will be going around filing stations to ensure they comply to standards He revealed that those found wanting will be penalized.
” IPMAN as a body does not conduct adjustment of pumps. Be that as it may, most of the products are China technology and most times, failed.”. He added that they also educate their members that anytime they come out to sell, they should measure the products to make sure they don’t short-change their customers .It is an exercise that is ongoing. ,” he said.
Anyaso urged members of the public to report any dealer short- changing customers, saying, ” we are all out to get them to stop out”
He assured adequate supply of petrol during the yuletide. He said”, the era of hoarding of fuel is over. Dangote Refinery is on stream and they are selling directly to marketers . We are now buying from them. NNPCL refinery,Port Harcourt is equally on stream. If you hoard that means you don’t want to make sales.The issue of hoarding is no longer there because there is enough supply in the system, the IPMAN chairman said.
On differences in selling prices, he said IPMAN was working assiduously to see that the masses get the value for their money. Dangote is selling at N970 per liter. It’s for bulk buyers not for one truck, two trucks. When they now buy, they sell to majority of marketers at N980 per liter, they add the expenses of loading an d transportation cost. NNPCL on their own part is selling at N1,045 a litre, which we expected that with this coming of the refinery that they should crash the price. They should sell cheaper than even Dangote Refinery. These are things that we believe,we will discuss in our National Executive Council meeting in Abuja, to see how different bodies can move down the price because we are approaching the Christmas period ,we are giving the feed back mechanism for them to know the feelings of the members of the public.
A member of the Cooperative , Nkiruka Ugwuanyi commended the leadership of the Oil suppliers, marketers multipurpose cooperative society for the honour given to their patrons. She said she would want their patrons to continue supporting them, especially in the areas of negotiation of prices of petroleum products so that they could be affordable for the people. She expressed optimism that the awardees will lift the Cooperative to greater heights.
Author: Maureen Ikpeama