Emma Arubi
27 November 2011, Sweetcrude, WARRI-INDICATIONS are that Delta state may face another round of fuel scarcity during the yuletide period, even as long queues are already being witnessed in the commercial city of Warri.
This was made known last week by members of the Independent Marketers Association, IPMAN, represented by their state chairman, Chief Akpos Edafevwotu during their 2011 Annual General Meeting, AGM, with officials of the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR and PPMC in Warri, in attendance.
The independent marketers who told the NNPC officials that there is currently no kerosene, DPK, in the country also expressed fear that at the rate they manage to get petrol, PMS to their various stations, they cannot afford to sell at the government regulated pump price of N65.00 per litre, saying that they currently source for fuel to their station at almost N65.30k per litre.
According to them, as businessmen they cannot afford to continue this way and so might be forced to stop business until government is able to make the product cheaply available.
Earlier, the Zonal Operations Controller of DPR, Mr. A. Okaro charged the marketers to put a human face on the business by selling at regulated prices, saying that all Nigerians should join hands with the government to find lasting solutions to the problems of product scarcity while acknowledging the non-availability of Kerosene in the country.
He appealed to the IPMAN members to desist from sharp practices like tampering with the meter, product diversion and adulterations, saying that the DPR is not interested in sending any marketer out of business, but stations where sharp practices are discovered would be dealt with appropriately.
Meanwhile, long queues have started appearing in most fuel stations in the oil city of Warri as major fuel stations are already short of products.
