The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) says the supply of fuel to the system is grossly inadequate and remains the main cause of the ongoing fuel scarcity and price distortion.
IPMAN’s National President, Alhaji Debo Ahmed, said in Lagos on Friday that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL) was fully aware that any distortion in the supply system would take some weeks or months to fill the gap created.
According to him, the gap created by bad fuel and the flooding of last year has not been totally bridged.
“NNPC should upscale importation to bringing more petrol to wet the system to end this scorching fuel scarcity.
“With cash payments made to NNPC for loading tickets that are pending for lack of products availability.
“A marketer cannot tie down his/her resources to wait for so long, the marketer is forced to buy petrol from private depot owners, who supposed to sell at government approved price but does not.
“IPMAN members are law abiding citizens doing their legitimate business and bringing fuel to every nook and crannies of Nigeria,” he said.
He urged the public to erase their perception that IPMAN members were the cause of fuel scarcity and price increase.
The IPMAN president said that NNPC being the sole importer of petrol to the country and also supplies the products to marketers for onward sales to the public at a regulated price.
Ahmed, however, said that MOMAN was given their allocation on credit to their depots and to their stations for onward sales to the public.
“The Depots Owners Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) also buys from NNPC to their depots and sells to public through their filling stations and also sells to IPMAN members at government regulated price.
“IPMAN pays cash for products from NNPC to load at any designated private depot as directed by NNPC at government regulated price,” he said.
He said that why NNPC directed IPMAN members to private depot owners was because the 21 NNPC depots across the nation are moribund due to age and vandalisation of pipelines.
Ahmed added that the 21 moribund NNPC depots were the operational bases of IPMAN across the nation.
“Now that the NNPC depots are no more functional, IPMAN is left at the mercies of private depot owners, who can increase their selling price of products to IPMAN members at will.
“In this distribution of petrol value chain, IPMAN is the weakest link among the marketers because they buy with cash, which most times takes longer days to get the products.
“IPMAN are directed to private depots to get their products at the whim and caprices of private depot owners,” Ahmed explained.
Ahmed, therefore, implored NNPC to flood the market with more fuel to stern off this fuel scarcity as the only immediate measure.
He also urged government to reactivate the refineries and the depots as a long term measure to stop importation to refining locally to ease price tension in the emerging subsidy removal.
