Fuel scarcity: Marketers threaten to hike price, as queues return to Ibadan, others

Fuel scarcity: Marketers threaten to hike price as s queues return to Ibadan

By Akinola Ajibade

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), has said that it would  order its members to increase petrol pump price to N180 per litre. 

The South-West zone of IPMAN, said this recently, as scarcity of petroleum products bites harder in Ibadan, Oyo, Ogbomoso and other major parts of the region.

Precisely, areas such as Bodija, Sabo, Iyaganku, Mokola, Gates, Secretariat among others are hard it by fuel scarcity, as queues take over major roads of the city.

Others are Sango, Dugbe, Apete, Awotan, Ijokodo, Polythecnic Road and Adamasingba are experiencing short supply of fuel.

This follows inability of its members to buy petroleum products from any of the government depots, prompting them to get  supplies from private depot owners, who had capitalised on the situation to exploit them.

According to IPMAN's zonal chairman, Alhaji Dele Tajudeen, all the depots in the zone had refused to load trucks belonging to its members since January 2022, adding that the development has made the  private depot owners’to load the product at between N157 and N158.

This, Tajudeen said, is above the price that government depots would sell to the petroleum marketers.

He added:“So, by the time we add the cost of transportation to the purchasing amount, we will be arriving at a sum above N165, which is the government-approved pump dispensing price.But sad enough, the regulatory agency appeared incapacitated to control and compel these private depot owners to sell at the government’s approved price for us.

“As of today, the purchasing price of diesel has increased by 400%. Again, I want members of the general public to know that cost of transporting the product ranges between N6 to N8 and N10 depending on where the products are being transported to from the Lagos private depot where we make purchases.

“I wish to equally intimate you that making purchases from these private depot owners is not the ultimate end, we also have some overhead costs to bear like running an electricity generator to power our filling stations; paying the staff salaries, as well as servicing the bank loans among other costs.

“So, by the time we have to add the cost of transportation with the purchasing amount, this situation clearly implied that we as independent marketers will be left with no other option than to dispense the products for nothing lesser than N175 to N180 for customers in the Lagos to Ibadan axis, while those within the Ogbomoso and Ilorin axis may have to buy at a dispensing pump price of N200 per litre”.

Meanwhile, long queues have resurfaced in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital causing anxiety and hardship for residents .

Private cars, commercial vehicles and others were seen joining long queues in all the fuel stations visited.

Most filling stations within the metropolis that dispensed petrol on Wednesday and in the early hours of Thursday were greeted with long queues.