Member Companies of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) say they have extended loading hours in their depots and retail outlets until the current fuel scarcity is normalised.
Dame Winifred Akpani, Chairman, DAPPMAN, made this known in a statement on Wednesday in Lagos.
She empathised with DAPPMAN’s customers and the public on the current hardships faced following the importation of some quantities of off-spec Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) into the country.
Akpani said: “DAPPMAN assures all our dear customers and the general public that all hands are on deck.
” DAPPMAN depots and retail outlets have commenced, within the security and safety limits allowance, extended hours of loading from our various depots and in all our retail outlets until the situation normalises.
“We believe with the support and co-operation of all stakeholders, including Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Ltd. and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the current challenges of petrol purchase from our various retail outlets will be over.
“DAPPMAN urges the buying public to kindly desist from panic purchases as some stocks of PMS have been received by our members for distribution to our retail outlets and other registered interested and willing retailers.”
According to her, more fuel-laden vessels have continued to arrive in the country to remedy the situation.
Akpani said: “We have worked assiduously with the regulatory authorities from the onset to curtail the further distribution of the off-spec fuel in all DAPPMAN depots and retail outlets.
“DAPPMAN also seconded versatile professionals to the Technical and Commercial Committees set up by the regulators and stakeholders who have initiated best practices ‘Standard Operating Procedures’ .
“This is to ensure that the off-spec products are quarantined, professionally processed, tested and certified good for distribution to the market.
“We are also working with Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., through its subsidiary, the PPMC Ltd., to ensure that adequate stocks of ‘on-spec’ petrol are made available to Nigerians in all nooks and crannies of the nation.
