Marketers implement fuel price slash

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has welcomed the decision of the Federal Government to slash the fuel pump price from N145 to N125 per litre.

In a statement in Lagos yesterday, the Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the IPMAN, Barrister Akin Akinrinade, said the decision by the government was the right thing to do, in view of the sudden fall of over 50 per cent  in the price of oil in the world market from about $65 per barrel to $24 as at yesterday (Thursday).

But Barrister Akinrinade said the federal government should compensate all oil marketers that loaded fuel between Monday and Wednesday during the week because they would be losing a minimum of N20 per litre on the fuel they had loaded, depending on the distance or destination.

According to Akinrinade, the difference between the old price of N145 and new price of N125 per litre for a marketer that loaded 33,000 litres of fuel, the shortage would be N660,000 and for a marketer  who loaded 45,000 litres, the loss for that marketer would be N900,000 for that single transaction.

The IPMAN Chairman said if the marketers who loaded their trucks between Monday and Wednesday this week were not compensated, they might run out of business because of huge financial losses they had incurred.

The sudden fall in the price of oil in the world market was as a result of coronavirus ravaging the world.