The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, (IPMAN) has warned Nigerians of another round of fuel scarcity.
IPMAN’s National Public Relations Officer, Okanlawon Sulaiman Olanrewaju, who gave a hint of the expected scarcity when he spoke with newsmen on Friday in Ilorin, the Kwara State, said the expected round of fuel scarcity followed the price the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) has imposed on marketers.
According to him, it was too high and could cause another round of fuel scarcity. He said NNPCL wants to sell at N1,010 to marketers, which is higher than the price the national oil company sells at its own outlets.
Olanrewaju said: “The problem IPMAN is facing in the downstream oil sector is confounding. We realise that what NNPCL is imposing on us is too much.
“It is the sole off-taker from Dangote oil refinery, and the amount the NNPCL wants to sell to us, at N1,010 to IPMAN, is too high. This price is even higher than what NNPCL sells at their retail outlets after including transportation cost. That’s a very difficult situation they are putting us in.
“We may not be able to survive in that kind of situation because we’ll have to sell to the same members of the public. Definitely, it’s like they want to tag us as bad marketers. We don’t really know why they are doing that but definitely we’ll not accept it. It won’t work”.
He further said, “Presently, our members have paid a lot of money about N15 billion into the NNPCL account for months and they’ve not given us the product. This is for about two to three cargoes at the old price of N750 per litre.
“And now they want to increase the price after about three or four months. They’ve asked us to top-up the money paid to them before we pick the product. And that’s what they have been doing always. We cannot continue doing that.
“Our president (IPMAN) has instructed that every member of the IPMAN should stay put until further notice as we’ll be having our NEC (National Executive Council) meeting on Wednesday next week.
“It means that marketers will not pay that money until our discussion”.