A depot manager (names withheld) at the tank farm belonging to one of the downstream operators in Lagos; Techno oil has been sacked following allegations that he defrauded the company of several millions of naira. He was sacked along with four others who were also alleged to have partaken in the fraud.
Our correspondent confirmed that following his removal last month, a new set of managers has been appointed to take charge of activities at the depot.
The accused depot manager was accused of: bribery, collecting illegal and unauthorized dues at the depots, such as loading fee of N500, safety money N500 as well as money for the Navy to the tune of N500. He was also alleged to have discarded all the laid-down procedures for loading petroleum products at the depot.
Other allegations include: issuing of loading programmes which must be provided before trucks can come in to load product and deliberate partiality in attending to customers.
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Meanwhile, two petroleum trucks that were alleged to have been acquired by him with the allegedly stolen funds have been impounded and confiscated. Shipping Position Weekly also confirmed that the removal of the manager was due to series of complaints from the customers buying products from the tank farm to the headquarters of the company at Victoria Island in Lagos.
According to Nasir Adebalogun one of the tanker drivers at the depot who spoke to our correspondent, “it is only those trucks coming from Warri and Port Harcourt that he answers mostly because some of them are his cronies while for days we will be on queue here. Now there is no more long queue as you can see, everything is now made easy because of the new management”.
He also said that “after he was removed in December, the loading procedure has been made easy; you just come in with your programme, get your product and go, unlike before when even with it you still have to settle depot manager N5000 first”.
The matter may soon get to court.
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