Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) at Ore Depot, Shina Amoo, has said that deregulation (fuel subsidy removal) has complicated business for marketers in the country due to the absence of active local refineries.
He stated this while speaking to the media recently.
According to him, government-owned depots have been abandoned, many marketers have become idle, while many have sold their stations or put them up for leasing, and the Dangote Refinery is not ready, further complicating issues for marketers.
“Deregulation is the best regime in our sector but the problem with this current regime is that our refineries are not working. Dangote that we believed in is not ready.
“All government-owned depots are abandoned. All the pipelines have been vandalized. There is no solution to the free flow of the product in the country.
“We are still on importation. Before deregulation, we could get petrol at N172 and sell at our stations for N190 or N195.
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“From the margin of N23, we pay for transportation and other logistics and have a small profit. But now, we buy at N580 from private depot owners. How do we make a profit?
“As I talk to you, many of the private depot owners are selling to us at their pump price, not ex-depot price. What we are looking out for is how the government can come to our aid and allow independent marketers to operate.
“If it is possible for the government to organize a depot that will allow us to have a margin so that we can sell at the same pump price with private depot owners. Many are idle because they cannot access the product at the official rate or at the rate that allows for profit.
“Many of our people have sold their petrol stations and others have put their station for lease or for sale.”
According to him, the government can help marketers by involving them in its compressed natural gas (CNG) plan that was drafted to become a cheaper alternative to petrol, which is currently too expensive for the average Nigerian. He said:
“The government can give us a grant for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) conversion. It can do that through a development bank.
“On the CNG, the government should support us to engage in gas sales to compensate for the loss of revenue from fuel.”