The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association’s Aba Depot Unit has provided the Nigerian government with advice regarding how to avoid a fuel shortage.
Goldennewsng reports that In order to avoid a crisis during the Christmas and New Year celebrations, they advised the Federal Government to import a large quantity of fuel.
This was stated by Mazi Oliver Okolo, the unit’s Executive Chairman, following a meeting with Chief Sam Nwanganga, the Petroleum Commissioner of Abia State.
He stated that it was evident that the country’s product does not meet the needs of Nigerians.
He continued, “So, they (the Federal Government) must do massive importation, which they promised us they would do.”
Okolo went on to say, “Unless there is a quick intervention where they will give us direct allocations and we can load the product and truck it out, we are not expecting anything.” They would naturally see an improvement in the fuel situation if they brought in additional vessels.
We are all worried. We are in pain. We informed the Abia State Government of our predicament, stating that we are pleading with them to assist us in negotiating with NNPC top management to obtain our direct allocation due to our contract with them.
He added, “We are their advertisers. They are not providing us with a direct allocation, which is required of us. Instead, they are pressuring us to purchase the product from the tank farms, which are filling it at a very high cost.
In Port Harcourt, a recent payment was N225 per liter. The landing cost will probably be around N235 per liter, and we may sell it for around N245 due to logistics and transportation costs. A reasonable margin exists here.
“Definitively, we have concurred with the Magistrate for Oil and his group, that they will assist us with checking whether we can get this item straightforwardly from the public authority and let everyone screen it back to our stations, and that we will sell items at the ordinary cost which the public authority has endorsed.
“Anything less than that will be difficult because we also purchase products at a rate of N225 per liter from Port Harcourt.” Taking into account the logistics, the landing cost will be between N235 and N240. The truth is that we cannot sell anything below N250.
