The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria has said queues noticed at filling stations across the country may not disappear anytime soon because of the enormity of the problem bedevilling petrol supply.
The IPMAN, which controls over 70 percent of filling stations in Nigeria, said members have been struggling to access petrol for the past month, which forced many retail outlets to shut down.
The National Public Relation Officer of the association, Chief Chinedu Ukadike, said many of their members have been forced to buy the product from the major tank owners who are selling above the N577 and N578/litre official price.
He said, “Many depots are dry. The NNPCL normally keeps products in its storage that are meant to be on the ground for some duration before fresh products come in. But as we speak, I think the stored products are exhausted.
“This is because for some time now, for the past month now, NNPCL has not been supplying petroleum products to independent marketers in the Port Refinery depot and some other depots across the country.
“In Warri and Lagos, marketers are finding it difficult to source products from the NNPCL. It is the few major marketers and tank farm owners that have products, which they now sell very exorbitantly.”
Asked to state the cost at which the tank farm owners sold the products to independent marketers, Ukadike replied, “They sell it exorbitantly at between N601 and N605/litre, which is against the approved price of NNPCL that is between N577 and N578/litre.
“So it is now becoming very difficult for independent marketers to be able to source products adequately from NNPCL, which is currently the sole importer of petroleum products in Nigeria. And this is because of the reintroduction of subsidy on petrol price.”
Ukadike pointed out that until Nigeria’s refineries were fixed, it would be difficult to fully deregulate the downstream oil sector, adding that the rush for dollars had further increased due to the ban that was lifted on the provision of forex for the imports of selected items.
“The government should take drastic actions to ensure that our refineries are back on track. A new modern refinery can be built with about $8bn, and modular refineries should be encouraged, as well by giving them crude oil.
“The crude swap programme and the recent payment of cash for petroleum imports have not helped matters, rather, we keep on seeing galloping inflation. Our economy is going down the drain and this has to stop,” the IPMAN official stated.
