Marketers Association of Nigerian (IPMAN), has said
that it would be very difficult for the President-elect,
Muhammadu Buhari to reduce the petroleum pump
price to N40 per litre.
The chairman of the association in the state, Adeleke
Bada disclosed this after the association’s annual
general meeting held in Abeokuta.
Bada was reacting to the assurance given to Nigerians
by former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Tam David
West that the President-elect will reduce the pump price
to N40 .
According to him, such reversion is impossible and not
realistic due to the situation in the industry.
He explained that the federal government could however
reduce it to N87 per litre, if they build refineries in some
parts of the country.
Bada said: “ That is not possible, if you look at the nature
of the market, that isn’t realistic. Do we have the refineries?
“The only reason that can be possible is when we have our
own refineries and we do not export our crude oil for
processing. If the processing is done in Nigeria, then it can
be sold at the rate of N40 but not until all the refineries are
fixed .”
Nigeria’s President-elect, Muhammadu BuhariHe explained that marketers are not complying with the
stipulated N87 per litre of Premium Motor Spirit because
of the expenses incurred while trying to get the fuel
available for the use of the masses, Nigerian Eye
reports.
“ But by the time you get to the depot, after paying around
N2.6m for your ticket, a lot of levies are to be paid, levies
from PTD, IPMAN and all others, adding them all together
with the cost of transporting your trucks to the station, no
one is ready to run at a loss .
“ I even give them (marketers) kudos for selling the fuel
because they do not want the masses to suffer despite all
these anomalies. That is why if you can afford to buy it at
the prices they sell, then go on because we make use of it
everyday,” Bada said.Nigeria, since 1973, has had so many fuel price
increases, with few marginal reductions. Almost every
President that has ruled the country has made it a point
of duty to hike fuel price at one time or the other.
In January 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan
increased the pump price of petrol from N65 to N141
but he was forced to reduce it to N97 per litre, due to
Labour strike. In January 2015, due to the fall in crude
oil price in the international market, the federal
government slashed the pump price of Premium Motor
Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, from N97 to
N87 per litre.
Since the official reduction of petrol price, not all
marketers have complied with the directive.
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