To end the ongoing shortage in the nation, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has requested the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to distribute 60% of imported gasoline to independent marketers at the official rate.
Speaking to Vanguard yesterday from Port Harcourt, IPMAN Public Relations Officer Chief Chinedu Ukadika stated that independent marketers’ extensive networks make them the ideal channels for ensuring sustained delivery of petroleum products throughout the nation.
While praising NNPCL management for ensuring that independent marketers had access to the product in recent days, he pointed out that independent stations must be given priority for supplies to stabilize.
He claims that the Port Harcourt zone’s independent marketers were given 35 trucks during the past four days at the official pump price of N145.60, which caused the lines at the gas stations to vanish.
Independent marketers are currently unimpeded here in Port Harcourt. 35 trucks have already been delivered to us, and we still anticipate receiving ships for independent marketers.
“Despite the closure of the Port Harcourt Refinery depot, we continue to receive product from the private depots that NNPCL is utilizing for distribution. Members of DAPMAN are the owners of the private depots. Because the depot owners want to load the major marketers first, there are occasionally difficulties, he said.
While the supply has increased, according to Ukadike, it is still insufficient to provide free supply “since the independents still depend on buying from DAPMAN members at N207/210 per litre to sell at their stations.”
“I still canvass that independent merchants should be granted at least 60% of the daily allocations from the PPMC because we have the facilities, the people, and we are located in the nooks and crannies of the country,” he continued.
He emphasized that the recent events were not caused by a lack of the goods but rather by price differences amongst marketers.
“What happened is a ghost line since it was an unsustainable event. We ought to have been able to supply independent marketers with enough goods. We currently have 35 vehicles, but the key question is when we will receive new allocation.
“This allotment will last through next week, but we might have to wait another two weeks. Afterward, what happens next? Independent marketers will need to acquire at a premium price from private dealers again.
Now, if you visit NNPC Retail stations, you would notice long lines, while independent stations have no lines because they sell fuel for more than N200 per litre, compared to NNPC Retail’s N179.50 per litre.
