Lagos – The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) on Sunday said it was partnering with some major stakeholders in the oil industry to import kerosene and diesel.

The National President of IPMAN, Mr Chinedu Okoronkwo, made the disclosure in an interview with The Nigerian Observer  in Lagos.

Okoronkwo spoke against the backdrop of the hike in the prices of the products that was causing hardship to Nigerians.

He said the association had been given licence to import kerosene and diesel, adding that it had also concluded agreements with its foreign partners to finance the importation.

Okoronkwo said the association’s partners in Dubai had agreed to finance the importation urgently to ease the hardship which Nigerians were passing through.

He added that kerosene which was meant for the common people had skyrocketed due to scarcity.

The IPMAN president said that having got the licence to import kerosene and diesel, it would strive to ease the suffering of Nigerians in a couple of weeks.

He said the products would be available at affordable prices, noting that the government and marketers should ensure the consumers benefited.

According to him, this will go a long way to improve the nation’s economy and bring about development in the oil and gas sector.

“We, IPMAN, have entered into partnership with some multi-nationals to assist the Federal Government to make petroleum products available in the country.

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“This, we hope will create value in the industry by ensuring that there is enough kerosene and diesel in all our members’ stations at affordable prices,’’ he said.

Okoronkwo said the essence of the importation of petroleum products was to boost the activities in the downstream sector.

“As at today, because of the liberalisation in the petroleum industry, we are working towards importing our own products.

“In short, we are on course to importing our products into the country so that we can distribute to our members,’’ he said.

Okoronkwo said that IPMAN’s planned establishment of a refinery in Nigeria to ensure that there was adequate supply of petroleum products to customers was still on course.

The IPMAN boss also said that the Federal Government had restored the association’s right to petroleum products in all the depots across the country.

He explained that this would boost fuel supply, especially as the association accounted for a large percentage of fuel retail outlets, adding that in no time the scarcity would no longer exist.

Okoronkwo appealed to IPMAN members to support the NNPC in protecting the pipelines from the nefarious activities of vandals, adding that vandals had caused the corporation to lose billion of Naira.

The Nigerian Observer reports that Nigerians are complaining over the high prices of kerosene and diesel with kerosene selling for N230 per litre and diesel 185 per litre.