THE Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has blamed the lingering petrol scarcity across the country on the difficulties currently faced in lifting the product from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
It also blamed the NNPCL for the premium price of about N850 at which IPMAN is getting petrol from depot owners, resulting in pump price hikes nearing N1,000 in major cities.
The NNPCL is the sole importer of petroleum products and manages the distribution of petrol products to oil marketers.
On Tuesday, August 20 at Channels Television programme, the Chairman of IPMAN, Ore Depot, Shina Amoo, asserted that the NNPCL had distorted the distribution pattern, lamenting that its members have not been getting stock from the NNPCL.
He said the bureaucratic bottlenecks faced by IPMAN members in buying directly from the NNPCL have been on for the past two to three years.
According to Amoo, the little supply available is not well distributed by the NNPCL, hinting that independent marketers currently get petrol at a premium price of between N750 to N850 per litre from depot owners.
He said marketers could get the product at about N570 from NNPCL but that it could take three to five months as against the one week it previously took to load the product.
“If we could get any to load from NNPC directly, when you pay your draft today, you may end up picking that product in the next three to five months. So, the profit would have been eroded.
“So, we all prefer to go and be lining up any private depot. I don’t want to mention their names; they (the depot owner) sell the product at premium N800, N830, and N850. That is the situation at hand now,” Amoo said.
He also expressed worries that NNPCL had abandoned its distribution pattern, and has been shifting petrol products to depot owners, thereby creating a secondary market where members now have to buy at N850 premium from depot owners.
“We previously had an arrangement where we enjoyed a 70/30 supply ratio based on our capacity.
“Independent marketers are spread across villages and urban areas, yet we are not being considered in the supply chain,” Amoo claimed.
Answering a question about who supplies the depot owners, Amoo said, “The NNPC supplies the depots,” stressing that “the year NNPC left distribution pattern, that was the year they (NNPCL) left sincerity.”
“We have been making noise about this distribution pattern long ago,” he maintained.
Explaining the bureaucratic delays faced by IPMAN members, Amoo said, “Previously, after payment, it took a week to load products. Now, the process drags on for three to five months. This has made many of us turn to private depots, even though they charge premium prices.”
He further accused NNPCL of selling insufficient quantities to IPMAN in favour of higher volumes to other groups such as the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) and the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria (MEMAN).
The ICIR can report that IPMAN boasts over 3,000 members and controls a significant share of filling stations in the country.
Petrol scarcity has been resurfacing for over two months, especially in Lagos and Abuja.
In its most recent statement on Saturday, July 27, the NNPCL explained that the situation was being addressed.
It assured that the company was working round the clock with all stakeholders to resolve the challenge and restore normalcy in operations, however, the petrol scarcity has refused to abate.