In light of a recent shortage of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, in major cities like Lagos and Abuja, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has criticised the private depot owners’ “unsustainable” pricing of this necessary good.
On Thursday, Zarama Mustapha, the deputy national president of IPMAN, appeared on Sunrise Daily on Channels Television.
Mustapha claimed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the only importer of the product, supplies gasoline to private depots at the authorised rate of N148 per litre. However, they offer it to independent merchants for as much as N195 to N210.
He claimed that although NNPC depots provide marketers with gasoline at the authorised rate of N148 per litre, the firm lacks the necessary storage space to meet those needs, forcing marketers to turn to independent depot operators.
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Mustapha said, “It is more of the issue of the private depots collecting the products at the approved price and not selling to the independent marketers at the price approved by the mainstream, downstream regulatory authority.
“The agreed price as at now, NNPC sells to independent marketers at N148/litre but we don’t get the product at that rate, we get the product as high as N195 to N210 from the depot owners which is not really sustainable.”
“You cannot get a product at N195 to N200 and expect to sell it at N175,” he noted.
According to the IPMAN representative, depot owners use factors like the expense of shipping the product from the mother vessel to their depots and the strengthening of the currency as justifications for price increases.
Mustapha bemoaned the chaos in most Lagos depots, where marketers take three days to load refined gasoline that they are only required to lift in three hours.
However, Mustapha disregarded the possibility of fuel shortages during the 2022 Yuletide, asserting that the regulatory bodies are exerting every effort to ensure the product is accessible at filling stations across the country.
He asked the NNPC to work with depot owners to have the goods sold to marketers at the suggested price, arguing that the average person is the one who will benefit.
Mustapha added that if the nation’s four refineries are operating, some of the issues related to the epileptic supply of gasoline will be history.
“There is no serious scarcity for now and I believe the management of NNPC, the regulatory bodies and others are doing everything possible to see that this Yuletide period, supply is going to be consistent, supply is going to be improved, and there will be available products in most of the filling stations.”
