The Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board (PEFMB) is collaborating with the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to ensure the success of the registration and tagging of tankers and trucks, an official said.
The Executive Secretary of (PEFMB), Mrs Adefunke Kasali, made this known in Abuja yesterday.
Kasali said with the collaboration, the organisation would be able to provide reliable data on the number and type of trucks involved in the movement of petroleum products nationwide.
“The implication is that trucks not registered and tagged will not be accepted for the bridging of petroleum products in all parts of the country,” she said.
Kasali said the project would help consolidate efforts made on project Aquila to check fraudulent activities among the marketers and ensure transparency. Project Aquila is a high-tech electronic loading and delivery system introduced by PEF to check leakages and enthrone transparency and due process in the fuel supply system.
Kasali said the partnership would help the agency to have access to the FRSC portal which would enable it to know genuine tanker and truck owners.
“The access we have now is to the database of the FRSC and that will enable us to verify that the documents submitted to us are authentic. It also shows how governmental agencies could share information; instead of PEF creating its own database, it can just access the FRSC database for any information needed on registered tankers and trucks.
“If you are a truck owner and you are not registered we will not be able to do any business with you. It is part of the government’s efforts to curb the activities of the fraudulent people that are running the genuine people out of business,” she said.
According to her, government is putting in place mechanism to ensure transparency and effective supply of petroleum products across the country.
“This is one of the transformation agenda where we want to ensure transparency,” she said.
Kasali said that with the collaboration, the agency would have transaction with genuine investors in the sector.
She said the FRSC Corp Marshall, Osita Chidoka, had promised to establish an FRSC desk within the premises of PEF to facilitate the operation.
She said the desk officer to be deployed would be engaged in processing and documentation of the vehicles.
Kasali said the exercise was not a device to monitor movement of tankers and trucks or goods in transit but aimed at enhancing transparency in the transaction of business with the vehicle owners.
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