By Abiola Olawale
Long queues have begun to greet some outlets of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) in Abuja, Niger and Nasarawa States after several filling stations owned by independent marketers shut down businesses.
It was gathered that several residents in Abuja have begun to queue in search of one of the most sought after commodities in Nigeria, the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol or fuel.
Massive queues have been sighted in filling stations like the NNPC mega station located at the Gwarimpa axis of the Zuba-Kubwa Expressway of Abuja; Conoil and Total filling stations directly opposite the headquarters of NNPCL in the Abuja city centre, and Salbas filling station at the Dei-Dei end of the Zuba-Kubwa expressway, among others.
According to reports emerging on Saturday, the independent marketers closed their retail outlets over alleged inability to access petrol and a hike of the depot price.
The independent marketers had alleged that private depot owners increased the depot price of fuel to N710/litre.
The National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Maigandi, who spoke with the press on Saturday lamented that private depot owners allegedly raised the ex-depot price of PMS to N710/litre, whereas the pump price of the commodity at NNPCL retail stations was N617/litre.
Madigan said: “The current situation is a result of how the private depot owners have been selling their products. It has been very difficult for independent petroleum marketers to get the product and sell it in Abuja and neighbouring states, as well as in other states in the North.
“So, the queues you are seeing now are because of the cost of PMS by private depots. The private depots are selling at N710/litre, but if you check the price of the same product at NNPC retail outlets, it is N617/litre.
“Therefore, by the time the independent marketers buy from private depots and bring it to our filling stations, we will not be able to sell our product because our cost price is already so high, while the cost at NNPC retail outlets is far lower.
“And you know that when we buy it at the rate of N710/litre, we have to add transportation cost again because there is no equalisation. And when we add the cost of transportation, the pump price is going to be higher than the N710/litre ex-depot price, whereas NNPC stations sell at N617/litre.”
Maigandi explained that because of the widespread number of stations operated by IPMAN, any distortion in the supply of products to members of the group would lead to fuel queues because major marketers and NNPCLstations were fewer in number.
On whether IPMAN members cannot get direct PMS supply from NNPCL, instead of buying the product from private depots, he replied, “That is what we have been negotiating with them (NNPCL), and they promised us that they will start giving us our allocation.
“They have started, but the quantity is small compared to the number of retail outlets operated by IPMAN nationwide. We are getting products from NNPC, but the volume is too small for our members.
“So, we are requesting additional volumes because, in Abuja alone, we have over 250 retail outlets belonging to IPMAN members. This is just for Abuja. We have not talked about Niger, Kaduna, and other states in the North, not to mention the number nationwide.”
Maigandi, however, stated that the queues for petrol were not pronounced in remote villages, adding that “when you go to the villages, you will see that there are no queues.”.
“But in the city centres, where you have NNPC stations selling very cheaper than the N710/litre price, you will see queues there, as well as in front of the few outlets that have products to dispense.”
