The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has linked the continued scarcity of fuel to the continued subsidy as the product hits N180/litre.
The agency revealed on Monday that the fuel crisis would end, when the subsidy issue is resolved. It also stated that the Federal Government has its reasons for retaining the subsidy.
Officials of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria(IPMAN) that spoke with Punch on Monday disclosed that the ex-depot price of petrol by private tank farm owners had risen to ₦180/litre.
It was gathered that the price of petrol which was between ₦162 – ₦167/litre jumped to ₦180/litre on Monday
The crisis has seen Nigerians queue at filling stations to get fuel.
Orji Ogbonnaya-Orji, Executive Secretary, NEITI, described the current petrol scarcity as a symptom, while the main disease was the subsidy.
In his words, “At the moment, the NNPC and the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority are seriously working hard to restore normalcy.
“I was in touch with the top management of the relevant organisations and I am aware of the amount of work and pressure that have gone into this. But let me say this, fuel scarcity is just a mere symptom, subsidy is the main disease.”
The National Public Relations Officer, IPMAN, Ukadike Chinedu, while speaking on the rise in the ex-depot price of petrol said tank farm owners are currently dispensing the product at N180/litre.
He said this has seen filling stations sell petrol at over N200/litre, higher than the approved N162 to N165/litre pump price.
Ukadike stated, “Our members sell products as they buy from private depots since the private tank farms are the only source of supply.”
The IPMAN PRO added that, “In our bid to serve our environment, we move further to source this product at the cost of N180/litre from private tank farms”
While speaking on the way out, Ukadike said the National President of IPMAN, Debo Ahmed, had appealed to the Pipelines Product Marketing Company, a subsidiary of NNPC, to send products to its (PPMC) 21 inland depots.
He explained that this would enable IPMAN members to buy products at a government-regulated rate. IPMAN operates about 90 per cent of filling stations across the country.
Ukadika said members of the association had suffered undue hardship since the fuel crisis in the downstream sector started and appealed to NMDPRA to do needful and ensure that erring depot owners were made to comply.
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