THE Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has said its members buy premium motor spirit (PMS), known as petrol, at over N200 per litre from depots.
The association said the price at which private depot owners sell petrol across the country was not sustainable.
Fuel scarcity has been a recurrent issue in recent weeks as vehicle owners experience difficulties getting petrol from filling stations, especially in Abuja and Lagos.
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Motorists are forced to resort to black market as many stations are not accessible, with the few open ones selling at different prices.
The Deputy National President of IPMAN, Zarama Mustapha, who featured on Channels Television on Thursday, November 24, disclosed that the private depots get petrol at the approved price of N148/litre from the sole importer, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
He said they, however, sell the product between N195 and N210 to independent marketers.
”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,” Mustapha said.
The cost of transporting the petroleum product from the mother vessel to their depots and escalation of the dollar are the excuses depot owners give as reasons for the price hike, according to Mustapha.
Mustapha lamented the turbulent situation being experienced in Lagos depots, saying marketers spend three days to load refined petrol as against the normal three hours required to lift.
He further urged the NNPC to engage depot owners to sell the product to marketers at the recommended price, adding that the common man is at the receiving end.
