The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has raised an alarm, saying its members can no longer dispense petrol at the current regulated price of N165/liter due to unfavourable business conditions.
Mr Akin Akinrinade, Chairman of the Lagos satellite depot, made the statement in a media chat on Monday, June 20, 2022, where he also lamented the high overhead costs of IPMAN members.
Akinrinade’s statement coincides with the re-emergence of the familiar fuel queues in Lagos due to a cut in the supply of petrol by 22 per cent to 65.24 million litres per day on June 20, 2022, from 79.53 litres per day in May.
He said, “Our members can no longer sell at N165. In fact, there is no reasonable businessman in this business that can sell below N180 per litre,” he said.
“We are not on strike, rather the business environment has been very hostile to us such that we can no longer do business under this condition,” he said.
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“For you to load a litre of petrol, you will pay N162 per litre. You will have to add the cost of transportation which is between N6 to N8, depending on the distance within Lagos. If it is outside Lagos, it is much more than that.
“So, If you add N8 to N162, you already have N170 and this product is regulated by the government and the government wants us to sell at N165. We have not added the charges at the depots and the running cost at our stations.
“You know what diesel says now, and you know how epileptic power supply is. We run on generators using diesel at N800 per litre,” he said.
“There is no station in Lagos or anywhere that uses less than 50 litres per day,” he said.