8th February, 2017
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has appealed to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to sanction all private depots in Apapa area of Lagos selling above the regulated price of N133.28k
Alhaji Debo Ahmed, Chairman, IPMAN, Western Zone, made that appeal in on Wednesday in Lagos.
Ahmed said that many depot owners at Apapa sold petrol between N140 and N145, against the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) price template of N133.28kobo.
He said that 90 per cent of petrol products imported into the country were distributed through the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), “because as we speak, no private depot owner imports”.
“It is extremely difficult for marketers outside Lagos to buy petrol at N145 from the depots and sell at the same price to consumers.
“We, marketers in Ilorin, Ore, Ondo, Akure, Ibadan and Osogbo, are running at a loss.
“There is a need for government to review the activities of DPR official domicile at Apapa private depots who connive with depot owners to sell products above the regulated price,” the IPMAN chairman said.
Ahmed urged the Federal Government to wade into the situation and wield the big stick on dishonest depot owners taking advantage of the shutdown of government-owned depots to make life difficult for his members.
“We marketers within the South-West — Lagos, Ibadan, Ore, Ilorin and Ekiti– find it extremely difficult to load at Apapa depot due to bottleneck at the depot,” he said.
The chairman appealed to the management of DPR to urgently set up a task force to supervise the sale of petrol in private depots to stop sales above the official pump and depot prices.
The chairman also implored the government to hasten the repairs of the Atlas Cove System 2B that was vandalised, to curb long queues of trucks at the private depots in Apapa.
He said that over 4,000 trucks from the North and Western Zone queue indefinitely at Apapa to load products.
Ahmed said that independent marketers had not been able to load petrol in all NNPC depots in the South-Wes t since June 2016, while depots in Ore and Ilorin had stopped dispensing products years back.
A correspondent who monitored the depots in Lagos reports that the product was being sold for between N136 and N139.50.
It will be recalled that the management of PPPRA, on Jan. 19, appealed to depot owners to adhere strictly to the subsisting truck-out principle in order to ensure that products get to retail outlets across the country in a seamless manner.
“The agency shall not hesitate to apply appropriate sanctions where necessary,” the statement said.