Oil marketers have blamed the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) for the lingering fuel scarcity in Lagos, Abuja and some part of Nigeria, after queues resurfaced at filling station.
The marketers under the umbrella of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) told NAN on Friday that PPMC has been unable to supply products to the Ejigbo depot.
The IPMAN Secretary for Lagos Satellite Depot Ejigbo, Akeem Balogun, said the oil marketers depend on the shipments in order to buy at an affordable rate that would enable them maintain the pump price at N165 per litre.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) had warned the oil marketers against taking advantage of the scarcity by raising fuel price.
PPMC and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) had began monitoring sales of fuel at retail station, threatening to revoke the license of firms caught selling above the government-agreed price.
Balogun said the oil marketers are still waiting for PPMC, which is a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC). This is one week after the government said it had begun distribution of fuel in Lagos, and plans to send to Abuja as well.
“We are still waiting for the PPMC to supply products to our depot so that we can buy at the controlled price and can also sell at N165 per litre at our retail outlets”, Balogun said.
The alternative for the oil marketers is to buy from private depot owners, but fuel is sold at the rate of N162 per litre against the N148.17 per litre the government sells to them – this will force the retail stations to increase pump price above government-agreed cost of N165 per litre.