A petroleum joint task force at the weekend intercepted trucks with 90,000 litres of adulterated diesel in Aba, Abia State.
The task force, which comprises the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) and the Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria (NOGASA), also appealed for the state government to check the activities of oil pipeline vandals, who they claimed to be sabotaging the country’s economy.
Each of the trucks was said to have been loaded with 45,000 litres of diesel and were intercepted in the early hours of Friday, around Ariaria, along Aba-Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway, while they were conveying the diesel to an undisclosed location.
The drivers and other occupants of the trucks abandoned the product and escaped into the bush when they sighted the JTF, close to Tonimas junction.
Godfrey Chukwunyere, chairman of the joint task force, explained that the activities of illegal oil bunkers were taking the majority of their members out of business, as they cannot get products anymore from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) depot in Aba.
He pleaded with the government of Abia State to come to their aid, as they were trying their best to check the activities of these vandals.
“We need the support of the government. These people are criminals and they’re sabotaging the Nigerian economy and taking genuine oil marketers out of business.
“These vandals have filled the market with adulterated products that are harmful to our people. We formed this task force to check the nefarious activities of illegal bunkers and make sure that none of our marketers is involved in this.
“We also want to ensure that any of our members found to be collaborating with these vandals are delisted and reported to the approval authorities.
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“We’re happy that so far, none of our members is involved in this. These people are criminals and must be stopped. We cannot fold our hands and allow them to take us out of business.
“All we want is for products to be at the Aba depot of the NNPC, so that we can do our business and pay necessary taxes as genuine businessmen”, he stated.
Nwandu Anyawu, chairman, Oil and Gas Suppliers (OGS), Aba unit, said that they suspect that the vandals got the products around the boundary of Rivers and Abia States and were trying to enter Aba to distribute them before they were caught.
“We are doing our job to get these guys. Today, they abandoned their products and ran away. We are calling on the governor to kindly assist us to fight and win this battle because their activities are affecting everybody.
“We can’t load in the depot again. Their activities are killing our business. They break pipelines and take refined products to sell illegally”.
Chidiadi Achibiri, the public relations officer OGS, Aba unit said that the issue was beyond just marketing of illegally gotten petroleum products, but also marketing of adulterated products that have been causing problems for Nigerians.
“This thing is increasing at an alarming rate. We decided to come together to say no to this. We got information about their activities and we took action to get them. “They have fake documents forged to enable them to move these products as if they got from the depot.
“They’re bringing these products from Rivers state, but we have our people here checking them, because the Aba depot is no longer functioning”, he stated.
