Through petrol subsidy, the government fixed the price of
petrol for consumers below the international price.
Last week, the southwest zone of IPMAN threatened to direct
its members to sell petrol at N180 per litre.
Confirming the development, Akin Akinrinade, chairman, Lagos
satellite depot, in a media briefing in Lagos on Monday, said its members can
no longer dispense petrol at filling stations below N180 per litre.
“Our members can no longer sell at N165. In fact, there is
no reasonable businessman in this business that can sell below N180 per litre,”
he said.
He said members of IPMAN shut down their stations “not
because we are striking”.
“We are not on strike rather the business environment has
been very hostile to us such that we can no longer do business under this
condition,” he said.
“For you to load a litre of petrol, you will pay N162 per
litre. You will have to add the cost of transportation which is between N6 to
N8, depending on the distance within Lagos. If it is outside Lagos, it is much more
than that.
“So, If you add N8 to N162, you already have N170 and this
product is regulated by the government and the government wants us to sell at
N165. We have not added the charges at the depots and the running cost at our
stations.”
He added that the cost of diesel amid the country’s
epileptic electricity supply situation also affected its members’ running
costs.
“You know what diesel says now, and you know how epileptic
power supply is, we run on generators using diesel at N800 per litre,” he said.
“There is no station in Lagos or anywhere that uses less
than 50 litres per day.”
Queues for petrol resurfaced in Lagos on Monday days after
scarcity surfaced in Ibadan, Oyo state.
The petrol scarcity would continue as available statistics
showed the country is experiencing extreme low crude oil production.