By Sunday Elijah
Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has called on the Government to issue licences to private investors and allow them to import petrol into the country.
Chairman of IPMAN, Enugu Depot Community in charge of Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states, Chinedu Anyaso, who made the call on Friday, June 2, said the current structure where the Nigerian National Petroleum Development Company Limited (NNPCL), a private company, was the sole importer of products was a monopoly that would serve the masses no good.
Anyaso said only a “price war” inspired by the participation of more importers alongside NNPCL would make the products’ prices reach their natural levels.
He stated that only competitive pricing would address the current problem of PMS and other petroleum products.
“Federal Government should issue more licences to importers and those who can build refineries for there to be competition and possibly price war,” he said.
“NNPCL is a private company. They cannot be in business and still be regulating prices. What they released recently is their own price; private marketers’ prices can only be determined by what the private depots are selling,” he added.
Anyaso described the price list recently released by NNPCL, which pegged PMS between N515 and N520 in the South-East as its own company price, which was not binding on independent marketers, but, at best, a guide.
He said marketers in the zone would continue to serve the public to the best of their abilities, subject to prevailing prices at the depots.
Mr. Anyaso condemned those selling petrol at N600 per litre, describing the act as exploitative.
Filling stations across Nigeria have closed their doors to customers while those selling were doing so for between N580 and N600 per litre.
