The Independent Petroleum Marketers of Association of Nigeria
(IPMAN) yesterday explained that the unavailability of petrol for
marketers to load from petrol depots is the cause of the lingering
queues Nigerians are experiencing now.
Lamenting about the incident, its Vice President, Alhaji Abubakar
Dankigari, said that members of the association have 8,000 tickets
pending that it has not been able to load.
According to him, private depots owners have been selling petrol at
a price higher than the official N77 per litre to marketers, lamenting
that the depots have all gone dry.
Dankigari blamed fuel scarcity on the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) that is responsible for the importation of 78 per
cent of the product to the country.
He said: “The issue is that even where we are loading, there is
no product. We already have more than 8,000 tickets but we have not
been able to load.
“Even the private depots that used to sell the products at a
higher rate no longer have the product to sell. So, that is the reason
why you have been seeing those queues. The NNPC is only agency of
government responsible for bringing the products into the country.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe
Kachikwu, has warned depot owners against selling petrol above the
approved ex-depot price of N77 per litre.
In a statement, its Group General Manager, Group Public Afdairs
Division, Mr. Ohi Alegbe yesterday said the warning came against the
backdrop of repeated complaints by marketers of sharp practices at the
depots.
The statement quoted the minister as warning that depot owners
found to be involved in selling products above the approved ex-depot
prices would be severely sanctioned.
No comments:
Post a Comment