By Francesca Hangeior
Members of the Major Energies Marketers of Nigeria said it would be illegal to negotiate and fix the cost of lifting fuel with members of the National Association of Transport Owners.
Reports had it that the tanker drivers on Monday parked their trucks, refusing to lift fuel over high cost of operations.
The NARTO President, Yusuf Othman, had in a letter to truck drivers who are members of other unions and associations, said NARTO had made several efforts to secure negotiations for appropriate and commensurate freight rates for its operations from all authorities concerned in the industry, especially the major marketers, without any positive result.
However, the major marketers said the decision of NARTO to stop transporting fuel may not have much effect on its members, some of whom now have separate transporters.
The Executive Secretary of the MEMAN, Clement Isong, said the association does not have the power to negotiate the cost of transporting fuel, adding that the law does not permit that.
Isong stated that members of MEMAN have negotiated the cost of lifting products with transporters of choice, saying that is what the law allowed.
Reacting to the claim that NARTO had tried to negotiate with MEMAN, he replied: “That is not exactly true, the law does not permit us, NARTO and MEMAN, to negotiate transport rates.
“All my members negotiated with all their transporters and arrived at different rates based on their strength and capacity. That is what the Petroleum Industry Act wants; it wants us to compete. So, in a world in which my transporters have found a way of transporting at a lower cost, for example by using CNG as their fuel, I have an advantage over the other marketer, because my transporter is cheaper, that’s what the law envisages. It envisages competition to bring down prices.
“If what I demand from my transporter are brand new trucks of certain category, then I should expect I will not pay the same thing with a marketer who doesn’t demand brand new trucks from his transporters. It just depends on your business model. We are all competing in the market.”
Isong added, “We are not expected to sit down with NARTO to negotiate and agree prices. If we do that, we’ve broken the law. My members have negotiated with their transporters and have agreed with their transporters.
“In fact, some of my members even own their own trucks. They don’t need to negotiate. They run their own transport. that’s what competition does”.