There will be no end to fuel scarcity until… Western zone of IPMAN

Mr. Joseph Oyewale-Akanni, Vice-Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Western Zone, yesterday attributed the current fuel scarcity and pump price increase to a rise in private depot prices.He did, however, urge the Federal Government to de-regulate the oil sector in order to prevent frequent fuel scarcity among Nigerians.In an interview with Vanguard, IPMAN’s CEO stated that the prices at which private depot owners sell gasoline across the country are not sustainable.”There has been no loading in any depot since February of this year,” Oyewale-Akanni stated. We have five NNPC depots in the South-West, but none have been operational since February of this year.”We went to a private depot, and by that we mean it is individually owned, and anything private has control over itself.” The government’s price was N113 per litre, but they were the ones who used small vessel badges to load from the modern vessels. They add the cost, but it should sell to us for N178.17k. We marketers don’t know what happened between NNPC and the vessel’s owner; they raised the price.”As of today, we are purchasing at a private depot in Lagos for N212,215 and need to transport it to Ibadan or Ilorin.” The private depots are the main source of this scarcity now, because NNPC has been selling to them for N113 since then.”They’re still selling at that price to them.” Instead of selling to us at N114 or 117, we, private marketers, pay N178 and N114, the public pays N180, but we buy from them at N212 and N215 as of today.”The Federal Government is making matters worse. There will be no scarcity if our refineries are operational, but the problem is that our refineries are not operational. We rely on private depots, and private depots are in the business of buying in dollars to pay the transporters, if we ask. It’s not easy, and everyone is aware of the current dollar-to-naira exchange rate.”Nobody can set a price right now.He went on to say, “Nobody can fix the price now.” When the scarcity began, we began with N190, then N195, and finally N200, depending on what we bought from Lagos to determine what we would fix. If private depots start selling to us at N148.17k, we will return to N180, but for the time being, what they are selling is what our people are selling in Oyo and Osun States between N250 and N260.”Everything will be fine if the Federal Government can look into private depots now and force them to reduce the price to N148.17k.””There will be no problem if the Federal Government fully deregulates the product, but if they do it partially, the problem will persist.” It will be fine if they allow private investors to import fuel.”