 Well, we're glad to know you're still there and watching the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. We are now going to look at what is brewing in the oil sector, as it were, the independent petroleum market as an association of Nigeria. Ipman yesterday asked these members to show a proposed strike over alleged extortion by petroleum tanker drivers, PTD. The association in the statement refuted allegations of extortion of 200,000 Naira against the tanker drivers. It also urged the federal government to grant its members licenses to import petroleum product. Right now, we are being joined by our guest to talk to us on that. And our guest is Chief Ukadike Chinedu, the Ipman National Public Relations Officer. Good morning and welcome to the program, Chief Chinedu. Good morning, my brother, and good morning Nigeria. Okay. Well, the topic is that there's this allegation against your organization or your association that there's been extortions from on the tanker drivers and you're refuting that. What even is the reason for the smoke that you're saying there is no fire? Well, you know, some group of people that were being misguided and on a farm, you know, who have decided to compress us, to be able to then very cheap, call a cheap place to go and also destroy the tranquility we are not enjoying in the oil and gas industry, you know, worked up one morning and decided to turn at themselves, you know, to start making some unguided statements against tanker drivers, the petrol tanker drivers of Nupeng and as the spokesman of the organization, I was also informed of that gathering, you know, and quickly I informed the National Secretary of State to lead by analogy, for example, who called our members in the north because the people are like that, they are not a part of the north, so they called our members in the north, our National Chairman to be able to find out with the social information that the National Chairman so-and-so denies that it was both for the country and there, but it wouldn't give any context because of that, they depended on that concern. We have three tiers of executives who have complete executives, we also have the national executive, we have the national executive, it lies on the front burner of the national executive council, if we have any discrepancies or any issues bordering on labor connection or a social by Nupeng, we have an internal mechanism, we have a private item, we have the Nato, the Nupeng, CTD and if man normally sit down to be able to resolve some issues, you know, bordering on logistic and there, does not make sense or not, whereby those internal mechanisms have not been exercised, the independent markets are with north, all of the stations to go on and start inciting marketers who are acclimatizing themselves with dispute regulation policy to go on strike and sabotage the effort of government. So quickly we issue the settlement on that and I think that settlement issue has put that to rest and we have also asked the agency to get those groups to find out whether they are being politically motivated, not economic possible. Yeah, but you know, tanker drivers saying that they are being extorted and you're saying there's nothing like extortion and all that, is there some kind of fracker between the Ipeman and the tanker drivers particularly or why do you think this came up? It's a very unfortunate, you know, for somebody to just devil social amateurs' allegations against our own drivers who are also driving a post-pollution collection, 200,000 mirrors, you know, from us before they load the post-pollution program. This is unfounded. It's never unfounded. This, most of the drivers they are talking about are employees of Ipeman. Most of them drive for us so that it's nowhere we go to the public and say we will not go and load. Who are going to load the program? That we will not go and load because our own tanker drivers who are also working for us, who are calling the streets and rules of Nigeria, trying to ensure that the deliverer of petroleum products are now starting off. Who is throwing pitas to pay for? You know, when you find someone for who are just trying to notice me and the busybody, also trying to be, they are being paid, you know, to be able to see how they can be able to put a partner in the way while we are all trying to see how can they be able to gather ourselves together to see what we can do in the challenges before us and then put our own petroleum products and set our marketing. The most basic interest of any criminal marketer is to see how can they be able to achieve. I'll say what the NDP are. Chief Uqadike, you know, listening to this story, it just doesn't add up because first of all 200,000 Naira is a lot of money, cannot be hidden and you cannot pay someone such money or collect such money from someone without some sort of evidence. That's one. And then two, you then begin to ask what might be the gain of anyone who may be sabotaging or trying to sabotage the process? What might be their gain? They are looking that their own drivers are going to pay 200,000. They would have still improved of how they pay the 200,000 Naira together, their own drivers. The NDP is what we marketers will only give our drivers to go and load our products. And we also would dispatch. There is no way you would dispatch your driver from Potacos to Lagos without giving him hidden money, without giving him deserve money, without giving him so good money to pay awareness. And also, let's listen to this message in case if the vehicle breaks down on the road. It is not only the issue of looping. It is the issue of where independent marketer can be able to call their drivers and sit down with them and ask them what is the latest purchase plan, how much they deserve. I will give it to you from Naira to Lagos. So if somebody will come out and tell you that he is spending 200,000 to go and load our products. If he doesn't want to spend money, he should stop giving his drivers. He should reside with them. So if somebody is coming out to come and says, lie and dig it out, so that they can go without proof. Because he is a dependent marketer. The switches don't collect any money for him or for us. What money will we give? If we give to our own drivers, that's not where you go. I'm thinking of looking for them to ask if my members to grab, pay them. No. Any money, if I'm loading my confidence, I'll give my money to my drivers. The money I will give for him, I will keep him. If I don't give him, he won't let me. So there is no uniform amount. It's on your own discretion. Individual discretion. So if we are doing your own decision, it is what you decide to give to your driver. If the money you give to your driver, it will get money. Sometimes you give him your little money. Sometimes you give him your little money. Okay. Okay. Chief, you've just said that it is possible that people are being sponsored to do this. How far have you gone to get to the bottom of this? Because just hearing that tanker drivers might go on strike or Ipman might go on strike, brought some frenzy into some cities. People were panicking and all that because that's a very critical sector that you are operating in. So how far have you gone to make sure that these people are found out and possibly brought to book so that this kind of panic cannot be put in the minds of people of Nigerians who depend a lot on what you do in your sector, in the oil and gas sector? I want to reaction again through this media. And we are also debunked as those needs and some press statements leaked by our national secretary. That's no member of the point it's going on strike. Our stations are open. We are waiting also trying to see how we can be able to serve our chief power. We want to support this administration by selling our produce. We are ready to stand. It is the fifth night. If we close our selling stations and our money is being taxed, who are we to do it? I will do the same document I will do it. I will do it in our sector. We are ready to stand. After that I will switch this energy into the three regression regime. No right-thinking human being. No right-thinking human being. We are whatever. With this kind of condition we are trying to understand that we will ask marketers to stop noting their produce and selling their petroleum products. No right-thinking human being. Those who put up the main one for independent marketers. And they don't have such rights to make such statements. And I also want to reaction again that independent marketers, we are not going on strike. And there's nothing like any strike anywhere that everybody should go out about and do their business. Those who are trying to stop political points or who are trying to sabotage this deliberation process, please. Should please be won. And security agencies should go after them to find out and let them figure out the receipts they would use in paying their driver 200,000 to not one single product. I want to press you that they observe that no product is for sale now. You can't even get up to 200,000 when it is to be selling your product. So why would you press 200,000? I don't know who is giving them such a go. Because both those group of people that are getting out there, most of them are non-marketers. And they are not the same number of big man. They are not the same type of big man. So coming to the public to go out and brag with themselves and find out how to go and sabotage the economy of this country. It's what the DFS and the police should water. For such unguided actions and pledges that 200,000 there, it's unimaginable. Okay. Well, let's digress a little bit, but it's still in your something on your table. We'd like to have updates all the time when we have the opportunity to talk with you because we are concerned about when the cost of petrol will likely come down, if ever it will come down. And that will depend also on your ability to also import the product so that so many people importing the products at the same time maybe will bring the cost down a little bit. So how far so far into the issue of importing fuel by your members? Are you getting closer? Right now, we only know of the five or six people who were given licenses. Are more people collecting licenses or are there challenges that you're facing in getting the licenses to import? Yeah, the most important is the mission and vision of the right thinking of the decision. Such achievement is to find a way to import their petrol room product themselves and be able to complete with NDPR and so on that go to ask more the people, the federal government has issued licenses. Like I told you after our executive council meeting last month, the National Executive Council mandated me and some of the delegates to travel to this region in the United States of America. So they are able to discuss with our financier on the best way to be able to import our petrol room product and they will do so. And I got the phone from the script and I put me as possible who reconvened the next, who reconvened the next. So they are able to give them information and find the mission results of what we have done. And also our license and progress, I think, by now, by the time I see that we're in the doors of the hospital, we're ensuring that the federal government issued license to us, we'll also brief the next, so that we can manage these things. This is what an application is meant for. The premium of power, our team, if we show that we have a stillness institution of petrol room product at the cheapest level, we don't want the special where we're going to get the work that will get the job. That is why we're trying to get this issue of petrol room product. So that we can do what's important. We're incomplete. We will not be at the measure of LDPR anymore. So the window has opened. And I also want to let you know that there is sufficient petrol room product that's made available and we're in the better market as a profit to you now. We are loading in all our depots to ensure that the petrol room product is distributed and not the mix and quality of petrol. Yeah, we know they might be fuel. Availability is different from the ability of people to buy and we're looking for a time when it will come down. This is a critical question here, sir. This is a critical question. The next slide is about the issue to us. The slide is about the issue to us. It's very, very important to you. Why? And you will also see in our press statements, because there are procedures, you'll also see in our press statements that we will also audit federal government to ensure that the process of giving us a personal license in line with our discussions with our our collaborators and our funders will help us get our petrol room products at the level of hopefully before the end of August. Because we've seen some headlines, we've seen some headlines that licenses have been given to Dengote and I think three or four other companies to import fuel. So yeah, so we were wondering are these people, even part of Ipeman, are they known to you, even if they are not part of Ipeman? Because we kind of like know only Dengote. We don't know the five, but as I said, six licenses, I think that were given out, we know only Dengote. Do you know the other five and are they part of Ipeman or not? No, I also believe that some of the other partners, the members of Boman and maybe some, is the issue of license and individualism. It is not him that has an association, but because of our complete existence and our obstacle statutes in government, in the society, that is why we are applying so that we can be able to reach our members, so that we will not be an image of the major market and the NNPPR and MOMA. And when market forces begin to determine, how much do you think, what is the lowest you think Nigerians can begin to buy fuel eventually? I'm telling Nigerians that we should be expressing the total for our budget, the range of 300 to 400. By the time, they might also fly testing. And I also believe that it depends on the price it is cheaper when we sell it. With anger for small messes, if it gets to 300, maybe things will calm down. Definitely, okay. I'll reassure you that definitely. We are even praying for less than 100 if it's possible, 250, 200, no wallah. Exactly, because that's the first point for all of these, with all of these stories, the refineries, our local refineries should be made to work. That should have been the first step and that's been the call from Nigerians, let the refineries work. So we stopped talking about important fuel for goodness sake. It's such an embarrassment talking about important fuel. The mercy of those who can refine our product. Well, thank you so much for your time. Chief, thank you so much for coming on the show to give us more information about the things that were worrying us all this while. It's always a pleasure having you. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. And before we go, we'll give you the course of the day. Well, okay, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Chief Ukadike Chinedu is Ipman National Public Relations Officer and he's talking to us about the rumor that the members of that sector might go on strike and he's cleared the matter and said that there's nothing like that and whatever was said was just a rumor. But right now, like Maureen said, let's just leave you with the final quote for the day. And this is coming from Thomas Edison. He says many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. So whatever the matter might be in your life, do not give up. My name is Nyamugun Agadje. And I am Maureen Meno Wensigwe. Thanks for your time. Join us tomorrow for the breakfast.