Task force discovers use of empty oil tankers to manipulate fuel-bridging business

arrests tankers claiming what they did not deliver

The Presidency has been alerted concerning a racket through which some oil marketers deploy empty trucks to claim billions of naira from the Federal Government for fuel not delivered in a scheme called bridging.

An incident involving the discovery of the racket has now exploded in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

A task force team, allegedly set up by a unit of Independent Marketers Branch (IMB) at the Life Camp in Port Harcourt Refinery at Eleme, near Port Harcourt, has impounded one out of 11 trucks said to attempt the racket in just one day.

The arrest of the truck was said to have caused uproar at the Port Harcourt Depot where a crowd gathered at the weekend during the incident. A report has already been sent to various authorities and security agencies, including the Presidency, a member of the task force told newsmen in Port Harcourt.

Bridging is when trucks deliver fuel products to areas outside their geographical jurisdiction when the refineries or pipelines could not meet, often due to pipeline vandalism or inadequate production by refineries. The scheme is under the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF), which has been replaced by what is termed ‘AQUILA.’

Marketers, who deliver products through bridging system, must go to the Port Harcourt Refinery or government-owned depot to get stamp of confirmation before proceeding to discharge the product.

After this, they proceed to the Petroleum Products Monitoring Company (PPMC), a unit in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to file claims of additional mileage covered and get huge refunds according to kilometres involved.

BusinessDay gathered that some oil marketers rather line up empty tankers, which drive in and get the stamps and move out to file claims. Rumours of the racket however prompted the setting up of a task force at the Port Harcourt Depot, which tracked 11 such trucks attached to one particular marketer (name withheld).

The task force has written a report to the depot manager of the PPMC at Alesa Eleme near Port Harcourt asking for full investigation, especially of the involvement of an influential oil marketer who backs a faction of the independent marketers in Port Harcourt.

The report signed by the task force chairman, Chris Tombra and secretary, Awake Amanna, and copied to the IMB chairman and the divisional police officer (DPO) Life Camp, said the incident took place on October 22, 2015, during operations and patrol in the depot when they discovered that some bridging trucks, which supposed to come into the premises with loaded products were empty. They still came in for ‘Aquila’ stamp and secured it and mixed up with loaded trucks.

The report said: “When this came to our notice, we raised an alarm and traced them inside the premises and some of the trucks were parked alongside gate 3.” The task force gave numbers of the 11 trucks allegedly involved and called for deeper investigations to reveal the marketers involved and many more doing the same.

Giving details, the secretary of a faction of the independent marketers, Uzor Ejike Chibuike, said the racket had been going on for long thereby fleecing the Federal Government of billions of naira through false bridging claims. This is the way that fuel importers were suspected to do round tripping by bringing in empty ships to claim money for subsidy.

Chibuike said the era of transparency and zero-tolerance for corruption at the federal level had led to strict orders in the depot and the discovery of sharp practices and loopholes.

“We have alerted all the relevant agencies. The army, SSS, etc were all there and ensured that the matter was not covered up. We are still monitoring and we are prepared to raise alarm if they attempt to cover this up again. In act, the presidency has been alerted over this scandal”.

Efforts to get in touch with the Refinery authorities were unsuccessful as some officers said they were not in charge of PEF (now Aqila). The secretary of the other IPMAN faction however told BusinessDay that he was not aware of any arrest of trucks in the place.