IPMAN Chair Says NNPC Selling Petrol To Marketers At N1,010 Per Litre 

 Abubakar Garima, the National President of the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), has disclosed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is asking oil marketers to buy petroleum products at N1,010 per litre in Lagos State, higher than what it paid to Dangote Refinery.

Garima who appeared on Channel Tv Sunrise Daily on Thursday said NNPCL purchased the product for between N800 and N900 but is asking marketers to sell it at N1,010 per litre in Lagos, N1,045 in Calabar, N1,050 in Port Harcourt, and N1,040 in Warri.

It would be recalled that NNPC retail stations for the second time in a month, increased the price of petrol by 14.8 per cent or N133 to N1,030 from N897/litre in Abuja, and in Lagos, it was hiked to N998/litre from N868/litre. Other locations witnessed similar price hikes, prompting anger among Nigerians.

“Well, we know now that we cannot call it an increase, but rather, we can call the removal of subsidy deregulation. Now, deregulation has started taking place fully”, stated Garima who noted that the major challenge now is that independent marketers have an outstanding debt from the NNPCL and the company collected products through Dangote at a lower rate which is not up to N900 but asking us to buy the product at the price of N1,010 per litre in Lagos, N1,045 in Calabar, N1,050 in Port-Harcourt and N1,040 in Warri.

On why the marketers haven’t approached Dangote to get the product at the same price, Garima explained, “We have a problem with that because we have booked products through the NNPCL, and suddenly, when they decided to increase the price, they are now asking us to add more money to buy above what Dangote is selling to them.

“We have informed them to return our money to our banks so that we can go directly to Dangote for our supply. Presently, our money has been with NNPC for about three months. We buy our products from them before loading. NNPC doesn’t sell on credit and when products are available, they call us to pick them up.

“But with the recent changes, we have requested that they sell to us at Dangote price or return our money. That’s the current situation and is the reason for the scarcity. We started negotiations yesterday.

“Dangote is selling to them around N800 to N900 and we are asking that it be sold at that same price. We can decide to sell at a lower price of N1,020 or N1,010.

“We also refused to buy it because they bought it cheaper from Dangote but want to sell over the amount they currently sell at their stations. This is a great challenge because this will mean our price will be higher, and it also means they will have a profit of over N100 per litre.”

He added, “Marketers want to be fully engaged in the business of petrol and its components. The NNPCL brings in the product and loading and has an offtake in Dangote Refinery.

“We are now being allowed to import and there is no challenge on that issue. What we are after is to get the product directly from Dangote and not through NNPCL. Currently, they are owing us up to N15bn.”