Petrol scarcity imminent in South-West ― IPMAN

Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has said that scarcity of petroleum products is imminent in parts of the South-West of the country over non-functional situation of five depots supposed to serve the area.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Thursday, the chairman of the association in the Western zone, comprising, Lagos/satellite, Mosimi, Ibadan, Ilorin and Ore, Alhaji Debo Ahmed, said that the five NNPC depots had been grounded about two to five years ago.

“It is unfortunate that all the five depots in the system 2B including the largest depot in Ibadan which can store 120 million litres have been grounded for the past two years. With all the five depots grounded, marketers are tied to private depots in Apapa, Lagos where we now serve the general public. The private depot operators sell to marketers at prices above the regulated prices. Marketers are at the whims and caprice of private depots.

“They are supposed to sell to IPMAN members at government regulated prices of N133.28k so that the marketers sell at government controlled price of N145. However, they sell to us at between N139 and N142. We can’t continue to buy at this price because we can’t sell with marginal profit. Yet we can’t sell above N145. That’s why most of our stations are closed down in our areas of operation in Kwara, Osun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun, Lagos and parts of Kogi, Niger and Edo states.

“In the light of this, we appeal to the Presidency, National Assembly, and minister of Petroleum to stop NNPC from collecting the unwarranted levies to ensure industrial harmony and save general public from undeserved pain associated with fuel scarcity,” he said.

The IPMAN chairman, who appealed to the stakeholders in the petroleum products business such as DPR, PPMC, NNPC and the federal government to make the private depot operators sell at controlled price, said that the private depot operators should not be allowed to force them out of the market.

“There’s bound to be scarcity when we’re forced out of market. We are about 3,336 marketers, and we set up a filling station at an average cost of N15 million with about N52 billion investment and average of eight workers in a filling station,” he said.

Alhaji Ahmed, who said that people had blamed fuel scarcity on marketers in the past, added that previous internal crisis in the association could not make them inform the general public.

He also condemned the policy on bulk purchase agreement by the NNPC and PPMC with the IPMAN, saying that annual renewal fee of N125,000 for five years to cover NNPC/PPMC incidental expenses by a member was strange and unacceptable.

The IPMAN boss, who said there was no monetary payment on the renewal fee in the agreement, added that NNPC had said that it would not deal with marketers if they did not renew the agreement.

“Several attempts have been made to dialogue with NNPC/PPMC management on this issue and availability of products in our depots but all to no avail. That’s why we decided to inform the general public on this before we shut down our stations,” he said.