Fuel Scarcity: Why Petrol Price Increased, Independent Marketers Give Important Reason
- Earlier, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers are at loggerheads over the pump price of petrol
- In a recent move, IPMAN has also blamed the pump price of fuel on the increment in the depot cost of petroleum
- Meanwhile, as fuel scarcity bites harder, business owners as well transporters are facing the heat with a gradual rise in fares
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has blamed the recent rise in the pump price of fuel on an increment in the ex-depot cost of petroleum.
As fuel scarcity worsened in many parts of the country in the last fortnight, many fuel stations increased the pump price of petrol higher than the official N165 per litre.
In some parts of Lagos, Ogun and Bayelsa for instance, the price of a litre of petrol went as high as N200 to N300 per litre, The Punch reports.
Source: Getty Images
Chairman, IPMAN Benin Depot, Mr Douglas Iyike, made this disclosure while reacting to a directive issued by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) asking that the price should be reversed.
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The reason
According to him, the increment is due to the hike in the ex-depot price of petrol which should be the area where NUPENG should direct its threat rather than directing same at marketers.
He said:
“We have read in newspapers the supposed 24-hour notice issued to marketers regarding the increment in the pump price of petrol.
“We want to place it on record that the increment is not due to any fault of oil marketers because we can only sell based on the price at which we buy petrol from the depots.
“There has been an increment in the ex-depot price which has left marketers with no option than to increase the pump price of petrol above the official N165 per litre in recent weeks.
“We believe that addressing the issue of the ex-depot price should be the focus of NUPENG and not attempting to picket petrol stations which might lead to a breakdown of law and order."
NYCN commends NNPC for proactive measures to tackle fuel undersupply
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the NYCN had earlier commended the NNPC on its handling of the contaminated petrol and scarcity of the product experienced across Nigeria in recent times after the company revealed that the recent shortage was occasioned by the importation of adulterated fuel by suppliers.
Addressing a press conference attended by a Legit.ng reporter on Friday, February 11 in Abuja, Adodo explained that the council had set up a task force to interface with relevant stakeholders to ascertain the situation.
Adodo who addressed journalists after an emergency session of the leadership of the council said the task force of the NYCN wasted no time in carrying out its assignment and made so much discovery.
Fuel scarcity: FG plans clampdown on black marketers as queues disappear from filling stations
In other news, the federal government may clamp down on black marketers of petroleum products soon, even as it tackles the scarcity of the product headlong.
A source in the midstream and downstream regulatory authority told Legit.ng that the activities of the black markers were worrisome and if serious actions and measures were not taken, the current scarcity won’t disappear as expected.
He said that as the federal government pushes more liters of fuel into filling stations across the country, black marketers were out to sabotage the effort.
Source: Legit.ng
