Clara Nwachukwu

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, has said that current Federal Government reforms in the nation’s downstream petroleum sector will not only ensure products sustainability but also distribution stability.

The newly recognisedNational President of IPMAN, Chief Obasi Lawson, who said this in an interactive session with journalists in Lagos, said the reforms if pushed to its logical end, will also put an end to the attendant socio-economic disruptions occasioned by products scarcity.

Accordingly, he promised that IPMAN will support efforts by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and its agencies to sanitise the downstream operations with a view to ensuring that Nigerians derived maximum benefits from the oil and gas resources.

Lawson said,“IPMAN whole-heartedly identifies with the administration of President Gooluck Jonathan, and we promise to join hands with the government in order to realise the gains of the transformation agenda especially as it concerns the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.”

He therefore commended President Jonathan for his transformation agenda and efforts at delivering the dividends of democracy to the citizenry in spite of the enormous challenges facing his administration.

Enormous challenges

Recall that Lawson was declared as the substantive National president of IPMAN, after a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday, set aside the appointment of AlhajiAminuAbubakar as the national president of the association.

The Court presided over by Justice LamboAkanbi, held that the appointment of Abubakar did not follow the laid down rules of the IPMAN and subsequently declared Obasi as the association’s substantive National president.

The Judge also nullified minutes of the meeting that brought the last members of the IPMAN trustee to power and restricted agencies including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC; its agents, privies and concerns, as well as the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, from recognising the Abubakar-led trustee or deal with it.
Counsel to the applicants in the suit (concerned IPMAN members), Mr. Reuben Wanoghor, described the judgment as victory for democracy, adding that the development has brought to an end the leadership crisis that had engulfed IPMAN for years.