Speaking on Thursday on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily,
the Deputy National President of IPMAN, Zarama Mustapha, revealed that the
private depots get petrol at the approved price of N148/litre from the sole
importer of the commodity, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC)
Limited. however, sell it for as high as N195 to N210 to independent marketers,
which is not sustainable.
“Though marketers get petrol at the approved price of
N148/litre from NNPC depots, the company does not have enough storage facilities
to cater to the needs of marketers, hence, the latter resorts to private depot
owners. It is more of the issue of private depots collecting the products at
the approved price and not selling to the independent marketers at a price
approved by the mainstream, downstream regulatory authority.
“You cannot get a product at N195 to N200 and expect to sell
it at N175,” he noted.
The IPMAN official said depot owners give excuses such as
the cost of transporting the product from the mother vessel to their depots and
escalation of the dollar as reasons for the price hike.
Mustapha lamented that most Lagos depots are in a chaotic
situation and marketers spend three days to load refined petrol that they are
not supposed to spend more than three hours to lift.
Mustafa urged the NNPC to engage depot owners to sell the
product to marketers at the recommended price, saying the common man is at the
receiving end.
For weeks, vehicle owners have had a tough time getting
petrol from filling stations, especially in Lagos and Abuja. Whilst many
outlets are closed, the few open ones sell the indispensable commodity for as
high as N250 per litre from the uniform price of N169/litre.
The supply shortage has led to long, gruelling snake-like
queues at the few open filling stations as motorists and business owners jostle
to buy fuel while others resort to the black market. The situation has also
worsened traffic on major roads as vehicle owners block at least one lane to
join queues to filling stations.