The Independent Petroleum Marketers’ Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has given reason for the current fuel scarcity in Lagos.
In a chat with Daily Trust, Chairman, IPMAN Lagos Depot, Akinrinade Akinade, said many IPMAN members were not buying the products because private depots have jerked up the retail price.
He said the association had informed the appropriate authorities on the development, warning that the situation might get worse if the authorities failed to intervene immediately.
He said, “For some days now, the private depots have jerked up their ex-depot price and it will be difficult for our members to sell at the price they are selling to us and that is what accounts for the flash queues you are seeing now.
“We have contacted the authority. Since last Monday, the private depots just jacked up their price. If you buy at the rate they are selling now, you won’t make any profit.”
Residents of Abuja have been struggling to get fuel in the last three weeks, a situation that was initially attributed to the flood in Lokoja, Kogi State capital.
Trucks headed for Abuja were said to have been stuck around the axis. However, after the flood receded, the scarcity persisted.
Debo Ahmed, IPMAN President, had attributed this to the supply gap the blockade created by the Lokoja flood logjam.
“They (suppliers) have to up their load from the depots to meet up because as it is coming, people are buying. A lot of people are thinking there is still the issue (scarcity) so they will queue. It is not that there is no product, there is a lot of product in the depots. So, it is because of the break in supply of the product that is still causing the scarcity,” he had said.
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