The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria has cautioned the Anambra State Government to shelve its plans for a State Petroleum Committee to monitor activities in the downstream subsector in the state.
The Chairman of IPMAN, Enugu Depot Community in charge of Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states, Mr Chinedu Anyaso, said this while speaking to journalists in Awka on Monday.
Anyaso was reacting to a statement by the state Commissioner for Petroleum, Mr Anthony Ifeanya, which quoted him as saying he was waiting for Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s approval to set up the committee.
Ifeanya had said the committee would monitor compliance with petroleum products’ quality and price by filling station outlets in Anambra.
But the IPMAN chairman said the creation of the committee would cause confusion and duplicate functions.
He said the rules and standards in the sector were set and monitored by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority of the Federal Government.
He said NMDPRA was empowered by the Petroleum Industry Act to approve, license, monitor, regulate activities in the sector and whoever had complaints should channel it to the authority.
