Writes Tinubu for intervention
Oil marketers have written to President Tinubu, requesting a grant of N100 billion to assist in preventing the closure of impacted 10,000 marketers businesses in the coming weeks.
National Public Relations Officer for the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Dr. Joseph Obele, who disclosed this to newsmen yesterday, stated that the price of a truck-load of PMS has surged from N7 million to N47 million over the past 16 months.
According to him, Three days ago, there was a meeting at the national headquarters of PETROAN. At the meeting, there was, an indication that about 10,000 of our members would quit business in the next 45 days because their trading capital had been severely affected.
He said, That was why we wrote a letter to Mr President, dated October 21, requesting a grant of N100bn to save the affected marketers businesses from shutting down in the next few weeks.
President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, (IPMAN), Abubakar Maigandi, acknowledged that there has been a decline in fuel consumption. He noted that the unions members have also been impacted by this situation.
He said There is a drop in consumption and the price of a truckload is higher now. So, we have reduced the quantity of fuel we buy. For instance, someone who bought 10 trucks before can only buy eight now. So, we havent been getting the right quantity that we are supposed to get. We sell only the little quantities we get.
Also, the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has highlighted that the failure of oil marketers to purchase fuel has led to job losses for truck drivers and employees at petrol stations across the nation.
Its Secretary-General, Afolabi Olawale, stated that: The economy is not smiling at all. Many petrol station owners cannot even buy a single truckload, and this has affected our members. Those of them that are truck drivers hardly get loads to carry anymore. Many petrol stations have closed down and our members who are petrol station workers have lost their jobs.
This is an unfolding situation. Its evolving, so I may not be able to give you the actual number of people affected now because we have those in the informal and formal sectors. We have people in the upstream, downstream, and midstream. But I dont have the statistics right here with me to give you.
Though everybody is affected, those in the downstream are the most affected. It affects those in the downstream sector directly because they are truck drivers, station workers, and the representatives of the marketers at different depots.
