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Fuel Scarcity: Enforce depot owners to sell petrol at official rate- IPMAN to FG.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) yesterday called on the Federal Government to compel private depots to sell Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at its controlled price.

Its President, Alhaji Debo Ahmed, who spoke on phone with The Nation, also asked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to import sufficient petrol and insist that the private depots must sell to marketers at the regulated price of N148 per litre. He called for stiff measures in the petrol market came amid worsening scarcity across the country.

Marketers sell above pump price in cities, where there is no enforcement of the regulated price, thus, denying the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of sufficient supply. The product that has been consistently scarce in the last two weeks in the FCT, recorded its worst yesterday as about 80per cent of the retail outlets were not opened to customers.

Black marketing thrives amid the surge for the product as some of the illegal dealers sold it in 10-litre plastic cans for between N3,000 and N4,000.

The NNPC spokesman failed to state why it could not supply sufficient fuel when he was called on phone.

Ahmed, however, said while  some of the NNPC-owed depots  stopped functioning last year,  others closed shops this year. “Some of the NNPC depots stopped selling since March. Some of them since last year; almost all the depots,” said. Ahmed.

The situation, said the IPMAN boss, has been accountable for marketers’ recourse to the private depots.

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