By Udeme Akpan

THE new National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, (IPMAN), Debo Ahmed, has called on downstream oil sector operators to come to terms with reality of full deregulation of the oil sector, driven by the Petroleum Industry Act.

Ahmed, who was sworn in yesterday also identified insecurity as a major challenge affecting the nation’s oil industry and by extension economy.

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Addressing members of following the inauguration of his tenor, the new IPMAN boss also called for the support and cooperation of other key players in the sector, particularly the National Association of Road Transport Owners, (NARTO) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers, NUPENG.

He stated: “The Nation is facing a magnitude of insecurity threat. The economic landscape is not friendly. The Petroleum Industry Act, PIA of 2021, ushering in deregulation of the oil sector, is facing us but we cannot but face the challenges and treat them as they come to lessen its effects on our members nationwide.

Earlier in his valedictory remarks, the immediate past President of the association, Engineer Sanusi Abdu Fari, who commended other stakeholders for their support to his leadership pleaded with them to extend same hands of fellowship to the new administration.