Independent marketers lament inadequate fuel supply

Oil marketers under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria have decried the inadequate availability of petroleum products at their stations.

The Chairman, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Ore Depot, Mr Shina Amoo, said many of their members had been sent out of business as they could not get the products.

“Many of our outlets registered with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation are not able to get what we signed as an agreement with the NNPC,” Amoo told our correspondent.

He said, “The agreement with the NNPC is that a marketer should be able to get 90,000 litres of petrol, 90,000 litres of diesel, and 66,000 litres of kerosene in a month at official rate to our official outlets.

“What we find out these days is that many of us purchase products from any third party at a premium. The official agreed price is N133.28 per litre but at times we do get it for N134 or up to N138. So, many of our people refuse to operate because when you are buying the products from third parties and sell at N145, you discover that your profit is almost zero.”

According to Amoo, some other marketers with depots and stations, who get products from the NNPC, continue to sell below the official price, sending many of the independent marketers out of business.

He said independent marketers were mostly hit by the development because “we don’t have private depots. We rely solely on NNPC agreement that we signed.”

He said, “We are not getting more than one truck in six months. This is what we are facing; they are sending our people out of business one after the other

“The Federal Government gives private depot owners fuel at cheaper rate. If we are getting for N133.28, they will be getting for like N118. So, they have the power to sell cheaper than we do.”

Amoo stressed the need for the government to repair all the NNPC-owned depots in the country, saying, “Ore depot is abandoned for more than 13 or 15 years now. Ibadan depot is not working at its optimal capacity; Ejigbo works occasionally. Ilorin depot is also not working.

“If all these depots are working, I can get my allocation from Ore at N133.28, which is still okay for me. But if I get my products from private depots in Apapa at N134-N135; I will have to transport the products to Akure, spending N6 per litre. That is N140, plus other expenses.”