We can’t sell petrol at N145 per litre, marketers tell FG

The Chairman of Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of
Nigeria (DAPMAN), Mr. Dapo Abiodun, yesterday, told the Federal
Government that petroleum marketers could no longer sell petrol at
N145 per litre.

Abiodun stated this in Abuja at a stakeholders’ meeting convened
by the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the
recurrent and persistent fuel crisis. The meeting was chaired by
the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Abba Kyari.

The DAPMAN boss in defending marketers’ insistence that no
marketer during the December fuel scarcity hoarded petroleum
product.

He explained that the rise in crude oil prices as a result of
Hurricane Katrina in the US led to a sharp increase in the landing
cost of petrol, a situation that resulted into the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) being the sole importer of
petrol.

He disclosed that since the suspension of the payment of subsidy
by the Federal Government last year, importing fuel at the landing
cost of N145 per litre by marketers was no longer practicable.

“Today’s meeting was called at the instance of Kyari, and it was
to find out exactly what happened, where we had problems in
December with regards to supply shortfall and what could be done
going forward to avert such crisis.

A lot of issues were raised and a committee was constituted that
would be meeting today under the Chairmanship of the Minister of
State for Petroleum Resources, Mr.Ibe Kachikwu, to further go into
the nitty gritty and to ensure that these problems do not recur
again,’’ he said

The committee was set up at the end of the three and half hours
meeting headed by Kyari, which had in attendance all stakeholders
in the oil sector on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Other members of the committee are the NNPC Group Managing
Director, Maikanti Baru, most parastatals under the ministry,
Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria(IPMAN),
Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN),
Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), labour unions
(NLC and TUC), among others.

The meeting which held at the State House Conference Centre (Old
Banquet Hall), also had in attendance the DG SSS, Comptroller of
Nigeria Immigration Service and representatives of other
paramilitary services.

According to Kachikwu, the meeting was not fault finding but to
find a lasting solution to the problems and ensure it does not
occur again as directed by President Buhari.

“The whole idea was to do a centric analysis of what really went
wrong. Like you know for over two years, we have been out of this
problem; it’s been working well; NNPC has been managing it properly
and suddenly there was this gap. So they wanted us to put heads
together to find out what went wrong.”

The Chairman of Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of
Nigeria (DAPMAN), Mr. Dapo Abiodun, yesterday, told the Federal
Government that petroleum marketers could no longer sell petrol at
N145 per litre.

Abiodun stated this in Abuja at a stakeholders’ meeting convened
by the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the
recurrent and persistent fuel crisis. The meeting was chaired by
the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Abba Kyari.

The DAPMAN boss in defending marketers’ insistence that no
marketer during the December fuel scarcity hoarded petroleum
product.

He explained that the rise in crude oil prices as a result of
Hurricane Katrina in the US led to a sharp increase in the landing
cost of petrol, a situation that resulted into the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) being the sole importer of
petrol.

He disclosed that since the suspension of the payment of subsidy
by the Federal Government last year, importing fuel at the landing
cost of N145 per litre by marketers was no longer practicable.

“Today’s meeting was called at the instance of Kyari, and it was
to find out exactly what happened, where we had problems in
December with regards to supply shortfall and what could be done
going forward to avert such crisis.

A lot of issues were raised and a committee was constituted that
would be meeting today under the Chairmanship of the Minister of
State for Petroleum Resources, Mr.Ibe Kachikwu, to further go into
the nitty gritty and to ensure that these problems do not recur
again,’’ he said

The committee was set up at the end of the three and half hours
meeting headed by Kyari, which had in attendance all stakeholders
in the oil sector on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Other members of the committee are the NNPC Group Managing
Director, Maikanti Baru, most parastatals under the ministry,
Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria(IPMAN),
Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN),
Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), labour unions
(NLC and TUC), among others.

The meeting which held at the State House Conference Centre (Old
Banquet Hall), also had in attendance the DG SSS, Comptroller of
Nigeria Immigration Service and representatives of other
paramilitary services.

According to Kachikwu, the meeting was not fault finding but to
find a lasting solution to the problems and ensure it does not
occur again as directed by President Buhari.

“The whole idea was to do a centric analysis of what really went
wrong. Like you know for over two years, we have been out of this
problem; it’s been working well; NNPC has been managing it properly
and suddenly there was this gap. So they wanted us to put heads
together to find out what went wrong.”