The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) on Friday said filling stations in Lagos were not selling fuel because of uncertainty of the new pump price.
IPMAN’s President, Mr Chinedu Okoronkwo, made this known in an interview in Lagos.
The Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) had adjusted the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, from N147. 67 to N155.17 effective November 13.
A correspondent who monitored the situation at Ikeja, Iyana-Ipaja and Abule-Egba areas of Lagos State observed that only a few filling stations were still selling petrol at the old pump price of N159 per litre.
Others, especially those owned by independent marketers, were not opened for business thereby creating fear of fuel scarcity among motorists and residents of the areas.
However, Okoronkwo said there was no need for panic buying because the move was based on the price notation to marketers by the PPMC.
He said: “We buy from them and we heard that there is a new ex-depot price. Now people will like to know whether that is true from the source so that they will not sell at a loss. So the marketers are waiting for clarification from PPMC because a lot of people were not privy to have seen the memo. Hopefully, it will be resolved soon and everybody will start selling”.
Okoronkwo insisted that the Federal Government was right to remove subsidy on PMS in spite of the hike in the pump price of petrol which may hit N170 soon.
He said: “We know this was bound to happen as the price is now determined by market forces but it will be beneficial to the country in the long run. More investors are coming into the sector and once we are able to refine our products locally, the pump prices will reduce. Walter Smith Refinery in Imo is already up and running and people have started loading products from there. Dangote Refinery in Lagos will soon start operation too.We have others in Bayelsa and Rivers and by 2021 we will be expecting the prices to stabilise”.
