“Marketers will go and buy the product at a very exorbitant price far from what government has approved thereby encouraging profiteering in business. Marketers will now take product from the DAPPMA depot through most of their agents who are called back buyers.”
Prior to the development, IPMAN members were getting PMS from major oil marketers and depot owners, a situation the independent oil dealers kicked against, as they argued that the association had the highest number of filling stations across the country.
Kachikwu noted that petrol scarcity was a major concern and Nigerians should not be made to suffer, assuring that the committee would come out with lasting solution to the persistent petrol crisis in the country.
“It is an undisputable fact that DAPPMA members have paid for petrol supply (with bank funds) for over one month, the value of which is in excess of N90bn, yet PPMC/NNPC had no cargo to allocate to them.”
“Sadly, some people have blamed marketers for hoarding products. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. Hoarding is regarded as economic sabotage and we assure all Nigerians that our members are not involved in such illicit act.
“The key issue is a price war. The marketers have made representation to the Federal Government and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, to allow price hike of petroleum products and leave the sector to market forces,” the report noted.
The DAPPMA official stressed that full deregulation of the downstream sector remained the best option to address ongoing lingering fuel scarcity because marketers would source for foreign exchange to bring the product and sell at profitable price to avoid scarcity.
The members of the IPMAN have said that they buy petrol at N142 per litre from the Depots and Petroleum Products Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN), a price, which has left them with little or no gains, after adding transportation and other incremental costs.
According to the statement, many of the oil marketing companies are owed up to nine months’ salaries while some marketers have resorted to retrenchment of workers.
NUPENG has announced that they are partaking in the strike. NUPENG has also insisted that ULC is a recognised union and that they are part of the body
