The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) yesterday lauded the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) over moves to sanction petroleum products depots owners who violated the official price.
IPMAN National President, Chinedu Okoronkwo made the commendation in an interview with newsmen in Lagos.
Okoronkwo said that the association supported the restoration of discipline in the downstream petroleum sub-sector because it had been characterised by price war.
He said that the sanity should be extended to petrol refilling stations nationwide, to eliminate the sabotage chain of marketers selling above the official pump price of N87 per litre.
The IPMAN boss also suggested an extensive stakeholders’ dialogue over the national problem of petroleum products scarcity.
He said that the wholistic dialogue among the regulators, marketers, IPMAN members, PENGASAN, NUPENG and tanker drivers would assist in finding lasting solution to petroleum products scarcity.
“Marketers and tanker drivers should commit more hours to duty in order to fully address the fuel shortage issue.
“There is also a great need for the DPR to sanction offenders in order to ensure adequate supplies to consumers,” he said.
He canvassed for a sanctioning regime that would ensure that some depot owners involved in selling fuel to marketers above ex-depot price of N77.66k per litre were punished.
Okoronkwo also said that IPMAN members were not interested in selling fuel at high prices but were constrained by the activities of depot owners who sold products at exorbitant prices.
“We are not interested in selling above the pump price or at a high price; but we have some constraints.
“We rely on depot owners who sell to us at their discretion; they sell to us at their own price and we have to sell based on the price at which we buy.
“If we get the product directly from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) or its designated depots, we won’t have problems because they will sell at regulated price and we will in turn sell at the controlled price,” he said.
He said that private tank farms, especially members of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), were selling above official pump price.
He urged the DPR to improve its surveillance on depot owners, instead of focusing attention only on refilling stations selling above the official pump price.
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