Oil marketers have complained that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has shut down its portal against dealers, making it impossible for them to apply for products.
They said marketers are still awaiting over 90 million litres of petrol from the State-owned company. This is valued at about N79 billion.
The NNPCL confirmed the shutdown of its purchasing portal, giving reasons.
According to NNPCL spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, the company shut the portal due to a significant backlog.
Soneye explained that the shutdown became necessary to stop NNPCL from holding marketers’ capital for too long.
“We have a significant backlog to address. The closure is intended to prevent us from holding marketers’ funds for an extended period,” Soneye explained.
He, however, assured marketers that the portal would be reopened after the backlog has been reduced.
“It will be reopened once the backlog has been sufficiently reduced. We are working to address it as soon as possible,” he said.
Though NNPCL did not disclose the value of the ‘huge backlogs’, independent marketers said they have over 2,000 tickets yet to be cleared with NNPC.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Ukadike, said the association is still waiting for the reopening of the portal.
“They are on it; our marketers are still loading petrol from the NNPCL. I can’t confirm the price now because the portal is still shut down.
“We have more than 2,000 tickets for 45,000 litres (of petrol). That is 45,000 multiplied by 2,000, you can now know the number of million litres it will be. This is just an estimate; you know I don’t work with NNPC and I don’t know what is on their system,” Ukadike said.
He disclosed that a 45,000-litre truckload of PMS is around N39.5 million, making N79 billion when multiplied by 2,000.
The Petroleum Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) also confirmed that its members could not access the NNPCL purchasing portal.
PETROAN President, Billy Gillis-Harry, said:
“The portal shutdown affects us too, we are all buying from NNPC.”
Meanwhile, the marketers noted that they have since been patronising private depot owners, who sell petrol to them at a premium.
This, they said, informed why the product is more expensive in their filling stations than in outlets owned by the NNPCL and the major marketers.
The marketers usually bid for PMS through the NNPCL portal.
According to them, payments will be made through the same channel while the marketer waits for months to get the product.
Independent marketers said they paid for petrol but were not supplied after three months.
The National Vice President of IPMAN, Hammed Fashola, made a similar allegation, which Soneye debunked.
Fashola had asked the Federal government to review the current distribution pattern to give priority to IPMAN members.
Fashola said: “We buy products from NNPCL cash and carry. We don’t enjoy any credit facility with the NNPCL. There are times when we pay for products, and you don’t get the products for two or three months. You have your money in the coffers of NNPCL, which means they are trading with our money.
“If I am not exaggerating, we should be talking of over N300 billion, when you consider the number of marketers all over Nigeria. Our money is always there, trapped, while we keep struggling to get fuel. The three days will turn into months if they don’t have products or they are out of stock, you have to wait, and your money will be there.”
At the moment, the marketers said they want to buy petrol directly from Dangote Refinery, to ensure price parity.