There are two sides to the IPMAN elections: Winning, which means the majority of the people have accepted Abdulkadir as a leader; and losing, which means that there are those who still have one or two reservations about his leadership. In IPMAN, a major player in the petroleum industry, which consists of vested interests, opposition in matters like this can never be ruled out.
For the new IPMAN leadership, this should remain at the back of their mind as they begin a new tenure. Beyond that and very necessary too, they must allow commitment, honesty, transparency and selfless service, an instrument that helped them win the elections, to be the vehicle to help them pilot the IPMAN’s affairs. In addition they should continue to carry other members along so that the same strong and united IPMAN we have would get stronger.
More importantly and urgently too is the need for the new leadership to work towards raising IPMAN members’ patronage in terms of oil lifting and bridging. Honestly, there is no need to build mega stations as there are many outlets owned by independent marketers to sell petroleum products.
I am sure there are certain dark spots on IPMAN caused probably by some few bad eggs among us. Also, there is the public’s bad perception of IPMAN’s members being hoarders of petroleum products; it is erroneously believed that we are all smugglers despite the fact that many IPMAN fuel stations go for days, weeks and probably months without fuel. I pray for the new IPMAN leadership to get at the root of these sore points and resolve them once and for all.
We are looking forward also to a robust and enterprising relationship between IPMAN and other stakeholders like major marketers, regulatory bodies such as the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), among others.
Alhaji Shehu Ismaila Abdullahi is former Secretary, Kaduna Unit of IPMAN
