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MARCH 12, 2007 VOL. 20. NO 22

Obat Oil in Sales Scandal

**Kupolokun, GMD, NNPC.**

Allegations of sale of adultrated petroleum product rocks an independent oil marketing company
By Sani Mohammed, Maiduguri
OBAT Oil, an independent petroleum products marketing company, which operates across the country, was penultimate week caught in the web of a sales scandal, when 29 trucks containing its AGO otherwise called diesel tested negative at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) depot in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, implying that it was adulterated.
Confirming this to The Source, the chairman of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji K. Mohammad, said that for one whole week, the State NNPC depot battled in its laboratory to ascertain the genuineness of the product. He regretted that it could have adverse effects on vehicle engines.
Conducting The Source round the vehicles containing the AGO, an NNPC official (names withheld) revealed that it was standard practice to subject to a laboratory test at the NNPC depot all petroleum products brought there, to ensure that such oil are safe for any kind of engine.
The trucks which contained the AGO has the following registration numbers: XH384KMC (Borno), XA 366 MGM (Borno), XA 378 MGM (Borno), XA 396 KBC (Borno), XA 647 MNG (Borno), XA 616 FKA (Yobe), XH309 KMC (Kano), and XB 722 MAC (Borno).
Others are XA311 DKW (Borno) XA526 MBR (Borno), XA 497 BAU (Bauchi), XA374 GZA (Borno), XA178 MAG (Borno), XA 585NGL (Borno), XX887 BAM (Borno), XX645 ASU (Borno), XE 310 FGE (Kano), XA 629 GSW, XD 472 GME (Gombe), AM 105 MAG (Borno) and XB 772 MAG.
At the NNPC depot, officials of IPMAN were seen going up and down trying frantically, to in their words, “resolve the issue”. Asked how the issue can be resolved, a man who preferred anonymity told The Source that the NNPC had written a letter to the head office of OBAT OIL in Lagos, informing it about the non-acceptance of the 29 truckes of AGO which it said were not good for use.
Hear him: “The NNPC had written a letter to OBAT OIL in Lagos. rejecting its use in Borno State following what they said was the result of the laboratory test it carried out on the AGO and also advised that the 29 trucks of adulterated gas be returned to Lagos. But it is not clear whether the company would accept the product and supply another one”.
Investigations by The Source, however revealed that the AGO, was ordered by one Alhaji Modu Ibrahim from OBAT OIL in Lagos. The AGO which informed sources said was sold at a “give-away” price, was produced by OBAT OIL and intended to be sold in Maiduguri. Out of the 29 trucks, the source hinted, six were found to be a little bit less harmful to engines but nonetheless had to be rejected by the NNPC. Unconfirmed reports have it that the AGO would have scaled through the laboratory test if the OBAT agent had played the usual gratification game, but there was a dead lock and so NNPC had to officially reject the product. “Why do you think the trucks have to be at the depot for two weeks, why have they been holding several meetings; some even nocturnal, to resolve the matter?” a source asked rhetorically.
Alhaji Umaru, the Sales Representative of OBAT OIL in Maiduguri told The Source that, he has been trying unsuccessfully to get senior officials of the company in Lagos to brief them on phone. He accepted that the adulterated AGO were indeed a product of his company, - OBAT OIL.
Umaru told The Source that, the Managing Director of the company is denying ownership of the adulterated AGO. He said the OBAT boss also threatened that any media that reports the incident would face legal action, even as the NNPC is holding his company responsible for the act.
But the questions many people asked regarding the fake AGO are many. For example, they say the Managing Director did not deny the fact that, it was OBAT OIL’s waybill that was used to convey the trucks to Maiduguri. When confronted with this question, Umaru, popularly referred to as Umaru OBAT, told The Source that the managing director of the company had told him that the fake AGO was not produced by OBAT OIL, adding that someone only came with it and requested for OBAT’s waybill to enable him deliver the products to Maiduguri.
But as far as Borno NNPC officials are concerned, “Whoever was responsible for that production, it was OBAT that should find out.”
The chairman of IPMAN, Borno State Branch, told The Source that the issue of the AGO is a difficult and controversial one. For instance, he said, even if the AGO is returned and received by the company that ordered for it, and a new supply is made, who bears the loss incurred in the four-legged journey of transporting the products from Lagos to Maiduguri, back to Lagos and to Maiduguri again?
Hear him: “The NNPC has done its job, regardless of whatever anybody thinks, but the issue is who pays for the loss? The man who ordered for the products is our member. So we are thinking of how we can help in this regard. Who would be responsible for the loss incurred in this exercise?”
Late last year, motorists had cried out over bitter experiences with adulterated oil, which according to some of them caused severe damages to their vehicles.
When contacted, the depot manager declined comments. The Source encountered similar situation last year when hawkers of petroleum product displayed their products right at the doorstep of NNPC depot; a place percieved by many as a lion’s den for black marketers. When The Source enquired whether the sale of petrol in jerry-cans had been legalised, the depot manager refused to grant the magazine audiance. Again, in the current scandal, the man closed his door against the press.
As at time of filing this report, the 29 trucks of AGO were still parked at the bridging section of the NNPC depot, and it was not clear whether someone had offered to take responsibility for producing what could have damaged many vehicles in the state and beyond.
Although some energy experts have argued that fuel or AGO can be affected by different factors such as weather as well as the length of time it had remained in the truck, the attitude of the depot manager to the press, demostrates that he must have something to hide.
Furthermore, several efforts made to reach the company's head office in Lagos for reaction on the development were unsuccessful, as the company’s image maker, Sola Akibulude ignored several telephone calls made to him.