IPMAN President Reveals Reason For Current Petrol Scarcity In Nigeria

The National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Abubakar Maigandi, has said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is responsible for the current petrol scarcity.

Naija News reports that the country has been experiencing petrol scarcity for a few days and massive queues at filling stations by motorists.

 Marketers attributed the current petrol shortage to a shortage in NNPC’s supply, while the national oil company blamed it on problems with logistics but stated that it had addressed the concern.

In a chat with The Punch, Maigandi said the petrol scarcity was a result of logistics problems from the NNPCL and the marketers.

 He said: “NNPCL told us that they had a problem with logistics, but the problem is over now, and they will start supplying products to the various depots so that we can go and start loading with immediate effect.

“Now that we have started loading, we also have logistics problems because we have to carry products from the private depots to our filling stations, which we have started doing. By God’s grace, I know the queues should clear soon.

 “However, I cannot specifically tell you the time because it takes time before we can start moving the products into various states. We are addressing our logistics problem, and we are expecting our members to start loading in full.”

The IPMAN president explained that dealers load products from Lagos, Port Harcourt and Warri depots to other destinations across the country, adding that there was no official plan to hike the price of PMS.

 He added: “Products are mainly loaded from Warri, Port Harcourt, and Lagos to other parts of the country, particularly to the northern states. The trucks have started coming in, as some filling stations in Abuja have started getting fuel, but we still have queues because, up until now, some people have been involved in panic buying.

 “Many people want to buy because they feel the scarcity will linger till the end of this week or they feel that there is a price change, which is not true. There is no change in price and we have not heard about such a plan.”