Selling Petrol At ₦165/Litre Unrealistic, IPMAN Reacts As Fuel Scarcity Hits Lagos

• The IPMAN official was quick to say the fuel scarcity had nothing to do with the removal of subsidy or deregulation of the petroleum sector

• Akinrinade stressed that it was no longer feasible to sell the product at the recommended price of ₦165 to a litre…

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that amid fears that the fuel scarcity may be a result ofthe industrial action threatened by members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), the union said it had taken a decision to go on strike.

The Lagos Zonal Chairman of IPMAN, Akin Akinrinade, while explaining the rationale behind the fuel scarcity, said the situation across the state is as a result of the operating environment which has become hostile to their businesses.

Akinrinade specifically stated that the petroleum marketers were not on strike as feared but have found it difficult to operate considering the dependence on diesel whose price has skyrocketed.

“Members of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria IPMAN have shut down their stations, not because we are striking; we are not on strike,” he said.

“Rather, the business environment has been very hostile to us such that we can no longer do business under this condition. For you to load a litre of petrol, you pay in ₦162 per litre.”

The IPMAN official was quick to say the situation had nothing to do with the removal of subsidy or deregulation of the petroleum sector.

He listed the high cost of buying petrol at the depots, the high cost of diesel for running their station, and the increased cost of freight as the major factors responsible.

Akinrinade stressed that it was no longer feasible to sell the product at the recommended price of ₦165 to a litre, adding that the landing cost of petrol was between ₦175 to ₦178 naira to the litre.

“You now have to add the cost of transportation which is between ₦6 to ₦8, depending on the distance within Lagos,” he explained. “If it is outside Lagos, it is much more than that.

“So, if you add ₦8 to ₦162, you already have ₦170 and the government which is the regulator wants us to sell at ₦165; we have not even added the charges at the depot and the running cost at our stations.”

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“You know what diesel says now, and you know how epileptic power supply is; we run on generator, using diesel at ₦800 per litre. There is no station in Lagos that uses less than 50 litres (of diesel) per day.

“So, our members can no longer sell (petrol) at ₦165 per litre; in fact, there is no reasonable person in this business that can sell below ₦180 per litre, so it is not as if we are on strike,” he concluded.

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