The National President of the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Garima, has disclosed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is currently requiring oil marketers to purchase petroleum products from its depot at a steep N1,010 per litre in Lagos State.
Garima pointed out that this price is considerably higher than what the company paid to acquire products from the Dangote Refinery.
According to him, the company bought the product from the refinery for between N800 and N900, yet is asking marketers to sell it at N1,010 per litre in Lagos, N1,045 in Calabar, N1,050 in Port Harcourt, and N1,040 in Warri.
He made these statements during an appearance on ChannelsTV’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday.
It is worth noting that just a day earlier, NNPC’s retail stations raised the price of petrol in Abuja from N897 to N1,030 per litre, while in Lagos, it increased from N868 to N998 per litre. Other regions experienced similar hikes, sparking outrage among Nigerians.
This latest increase, the second within a month, reflects a significant rise of 14.8 percent, or N133.
With this adjustment, petrol prices have surged by over 430 percent since the current administration took office on May 29, less than 17 months ago.
Although many Nigerians had anticipated lower fuel prices following the initiation of naira-for-crude sales, Garima attributed the recent price adjustment to the effects of sector deregulation.
He said, “Well, we know now that we cannot call it an increase, but rather, we can call the removal of subsidy deregulation. Now, deregulation has started taking place fully.
“But our major challenge now is that independent marketers have an outstanding debt from the NNPCL and the company collected products through Dangote at a lower rate which is not up to N900 but they are telling us now to buy this product from them at the price of N1,010 per litre in Lagos, N1,045 in Calabar, N1,050 in Port-Harcourt and N1,040 in Warri.”
On why the marketers haven’t approached Dangote to get the product at the same price, Garima explained, “We have a problem with that because we have booked products through the NNPCL, and suddenly, when they decided to increase the price, they are now asking us to add more money to buy above what Dangote is selling to them.
“We have informed them to return our money to our banks so that we can go directly to Dangote for our supply. Presently, our money is with them, for about three months. We buy our products from them before loading. NNPC doesn’t sell on credit and when products are available, they call us to pick them up.
“But with the recent changes, we have requested that they sell to us at Dangote price or return our money. That’s the current situation and is the reason for the scarcity. We started negotiation yesterday.
“Dangote is selling to them around N800 to N900 and we are asking that it should be sold at that same price. We can decide to sell at a lower price of N1,020 or N1,010.
“We also refused to buy it because they bought it at a cheaper price from Dangote but want to sell it more expensive than the amount they currently sell at their stations. This is a great challenge because this will mean our price will be higher, and it also means they would have a profit of over N100 per litre.”
He added, “Marketers want to be fully engaged in the business of petrol and its components. The NNPCL has been the one bringing in the product and loading and has an offtake in Dangote Refinery.
“We are now being allowed to import and there is no challenge on that issue. What we are after is to get the product directly from Dangote and not through NNPCL. Currently, they are owing us up to N15bn.”
