–Ticket price rises by 169%

By Obas Esiedesa

Following the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, petrol marketers are struggling to raise the required capital to purchase the product at the depots, a check by Vanguard has shown.

Before the removal of subsidies on petrol, the ticket price to load at the depot averaged N8.1 million per truck, but this has however risen by over 169 per cent to N21.8 million.

Marketers have said raising this capital at short notice has become extremely difficult.

Speaking on the challenges faced by marketers, the Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association, IPMAN, Chief Chinedu Ukadike, told Vanguard that for the independents, the situation was dire.

According to him, independent marketers were yet to receive loads paid for under the old price regime in the past three months, making it even more difficult to raise the needed finances to pay for tickets at the new rate.

Ukadike explained that following the removal of petrol subsidies by President Bola Tinubu ex-depot price has risen from N180 per litre to N484 per litre.

“We are facing a terrible situation. Our tickets are stocked. In the past three months, we have not loaded one litre of petrol. The price now is too high. The challenge is that the ones we paid for at the old rate, were not supplied and now we have a new rate.

“The ex-depot price is now N484 per litre depending on the depot you are loading from, compared to N180 per litre we paid in the past. We have asked them to give us the products we paid for at the old rate but they have refused.

“NNPC is the only source of petrol products and we are saying this is wrong. The government must open the sector up. There cannot be deregulation and NNPC would be setting profit margins for the marketers”, he added.

He disclosed that in the Lagos area, independent marketers have 5,700 tickets outstanding, 600 tickets in Port Harcourt and 1,200 tickets in Warri, Delta State.

Chief Ukadike, who stressed that the marketers were ready to compete in the deregulated market, urged the government to provide a level playing field for all marketers.

He pointed out that while independent marketers have a wide retail network across the country, the current business environment would make it very difficult for them to survive.

“We had a discussion with President Tinubu during the campaigns and we agreed with him that subsidies should be removed but the issue is that let NNPC refund our money (for tickets paid for at old rate) and then let the government issue us with licences to import our own products.

“We cannot have only one source of petroleum products and claim that the sector is deregulated. We are ready to compete but the business environment must be the same for every player”, he added.