The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) says its members were unable to load petrol from the Dangote refinery for days.
Abubakar Garima, IPMAN’s president, spoke on Channels
Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ programme on Wednesday.
Garima expressed surprise at the comments of Aliko Dangote,
founder of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, that marketers were bypassing his
company to purchase imported petrol.
On October 29, Dangote had said his refinery currently has over 500 million litres of petrol available for sale.
The billionaire said retailers are not collecting available
products to ease petrol queues, resulting in financial losses for the company.
In response, however, Garima said IPMAN members are not
importing petrol, as claimed by Dangote.
The IPMAN president said the refinery should allow
independent petrol marketers to register directly to facilitate access to the
product, rather than require them to go through the NNPC.
“If he (Dangote) can be able to sell the product to us
directly, we can buy the product, because we have to pay before we pick.
Presently, we have N40 billion under the NNPC custody but we cannot source the
product,” Garima said.
“Just of recent, there are some of my marketers that NNPC
sent to load in Dangote refinery and those marketers stayed with their trucks
for four days, and they cannot load.”
Garima said allowing independent marketers to load directly
from the Dangote refinery — as NNPC does — could lead to a reduction in petrol
prices.
The IPMAN president also urged Dangote to review his prices
if marketers are opting to import petrol instead.
“Since he (Dangote)
says marketers are not buying his product, he should check his price properly.
Is it higher than what they are obtaining outside or is it the same rate?”
Garima said although some marketers might opt to sell
imported petrol, Dangote should evaluate external market prices and consider
the delivery timelines for marketers to stay competitive.
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