Rainfall, Bad Roads Cause Of Fuel Scarcity – IPMAN
National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Abubakar Maigandi, has said rainfall and bad roads were responsible for the current fuel scarcity in some parts of the country.
Abubakar Maigandi said this while speaking on Arise Television programme. He said the fuel scarcity was not caused by dispute but by some logistics encountered by tank drivers and depots due to rainfall and bad roads.
IPMAN president said the flooding experienced in Lagos previous week halted tankers’ movement and depot operations. This, he said, made tanker drivers not load fuel at depots in Lagos for onward movement to Abuja and some parts of the country.
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“That is why you have been seeing that in Lagos there is no queue, it’s only in Abuja. And that one is because of the logistics challenges in terms of transportation from Lagos to Abuja,” he said.
Maigandi advised against panic buying from Nigerians. He said products are available and would be distributed across the nation.
He added that anytime there was cut in the movement of fuel to Abuja or any part of Nigeria there would be scarcity because of number of consumption.
“The masses should not panic in buying because sometimes if there is any small distance, you will see people will start panicking. So actually there is product. What I mean by logistics problem here is that when we buy the products, we have to transport them from Lagos and it’s by road.
“So whenever there is a small cut-off, no matter how small it is, like in Abuja here, they must be affected because the consumption is so high,” he said on Arise TV.
Addresing the increase in price in some filling stations by members of IPMAN, Maigandi said independent marketers now purchase fuel at a higher rate from depot owners.
He disclosed that marketers buy fuel at ₦715 per liter. He said marketers would have to add transport cost and profit margin before selling to Nigerians.
Maigandi explained, “If these depot owners hike the price, we too, independent petroleum marketers, have no choice because we normally get almost 70 percent of the product through them. So, we have to add a margin to see that we can be able to get a small profit.
“Like the private depot owners presently, they are selling this product at the rate of N715 in Lagos. So we marketers, when they buy this product at the rate of N715, we have to add our transportation cost. By the time you add the transportation cost, then you have to put a small margin and sell your product.”
