Fuel marketers blame PPMC over product scarcity

Abiola Seun

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, (IPMAN)has distanced itself and its members from having anything to do with the ongoing scarcity of the Premium Motor Spirit, (PMS) otherwise known as petrol in some parts of the country.

National President of IPMAN, Alhaji Debo Ahmed who made the clarification, attributed the current scarcity to the shortfall in supply of the product.

He said, “On the fuel scarcity, people are saying, IPMAN is doing this, IPMAN is doing that, the fuel scarcity is generally caused by a shortfall in supply of the product.

“We at IPMAN, we buy fuel and sell. We don’t hoard fuel because if we hoard, it doesn’t pay us. We are not contributing anything to the fuel scarcity. We get our supplies from the PPMC.

“On this adulterated fuel in circulation, I think PPMC has owned up, there was this adulterated product but IPMAN is trying to see that the product doesn’t circulate all over the place.

“So, most of our trucks are at the depot, they have not yet been discharged. The fuel you are seeing outside that have been adulterated probably came from those who bought from private depot somehow.

Painting a picture of the prolonged scarcity of fuel, Alhaji Ahmed said the few marketers with outlets dispensing the product got supply from the private depots, adding, “As I am speaking with you, there is no fuel in PPMC depots at all.”

He said, “We have our tickets that have been signed-in, we have almost about 500 tickets all across the country that are there lying down. It is a lot of money but we are not getting supply. “

Alhaji Ahmed noted that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited is the sole importer of petrol into the country and therefore if there is no shortfall in product supplies, scarcity will not come up.