Oil marketers, beneath the aegis of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, and Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, PETROAN, yesterday, bemoaned the confusion fostered on the downstream region of the Nigerian petroleum enterprise by way of the Federal Government, warning that Tuesday hike in the rate of petrol would negatively impact oil advertising and marketing companies.This got here as majority of the petrol stations cross the country adjusted their pump rate to between N147.40 and N150 per litre, from N143 at which most of them sold the merchandise in the past yesterday.
Already, the Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP has described the expand “an insensitive and wicked infliction of pains on Nigerians.Recall that the downstream subsidiary of NNPC, Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC, had on Tuesday in a memo via its Manager, Sales, Mohammed Bello fixed ex-Depot of petrol to 138.62 per litre with directive to take effect from August 5th 2020.According to the memo, ex depot rate of diesel was once constant at N160 and N165 per litre for Lagos and Oghara respectively, whilst ex depot for kerosene was a hundred and sixty per litre.Speaking with Vanguard in Abuja, National President of PETROAN, Dr. Billy Gillis-Harry, counseled the government and its agencies to desist from arbitrarily fixing the fee of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also recognized as petrol and have interaction all stakeholders earlier than arriving at prices.
He in addition disclosed that at the new ex-depot charge of N138.62 per litre for PMS, the, PPMC, surely hiked the rate of the commodity via around N30.30 per litre, forcing marketers in search of to purchase 30,000 litres of petrol, to source for additional N900,000. Gillis-Harry knowledgeable that with the hike in ex-depot price, entrepreneurs would be compelled to promote at a minimum of about N148 per litre, whilst in intense cases; the fee of PMS could be sold as high as N170 per litre.
The PETROAN president additionally accused the government of charge disparity in fixing the new ex-depot prices, declaring that whilst the commodity is bought to retail retailers proprietors at N138.62 per litre, the PPMC is selling the commodity to tank farm owners at N113 per litre. “The PPMC set the quantity tank farms can buy from it at N113. Who are the tank farms owners selling to? They are nonetheless selling to PETROAN members. This leaves PETROAN contributors with two choices; we both go to the government depots to purchase at greater N30, which is N138.62, or we go to non-public tank farms and buy at N5 more. “With this action, the PPMC is closing the authorities depots; and we are all going to patronize the non-public depots, due to the fact they would have about N25 margin. They can now determine to sell at N10 earnings and share the closing different ones. If that is the idea, at the cease of the day, all the federal authorities depots that taxpayers cash had been used to construct would be moribund. There is so much in the issue that wanted to be seen and addressed.
If you sincerely choose to speak about return on investment, and when you spend N138.62 per litre to purchase from depots, which does no longer include logistics and loading expenses. By the time you add loading expenses, it is now going to be about N3 to N5 per litre, relying on the terrain you are buying and taking it to; which comes to about N143, N144 per litre.
“If that is the rate at which you bought, how an awful lot earnings are you envisaging for you to remain in business; you cannot sell less than N5 to N10 per litre. You can see this is why we said government must enable market forces to determine the prices.” “Now, on the prices, the first hassle that has come is confusion. In Kano, IPMAN members are promoting at N150 per litre; in Port Harcourt, IPMAN individuals choose to sell at N152; in Lagos, possibly they are calculating to sell at N155. This is because there is no clear reduce dynamics of how this has been designed.”
IPMAN sells PMS at N150
Meanwhile, South West chapter of IPMAN, whilst berating the PPPRA for what he described as “policy inconsistency,” directed contributors in the sector to make bigger the doling out pump fee of petrol from N143 to N150 in their respective filling stations.
IPMAN South West Zonal chairman, Alhaji Dele Tajudeen, who spoke with journalists the day prior to this in Abeokuta, among others, said: “Even after announcing the new ex-depot price, they should have constant the pump rate for marketers to forestall pointless debt. It is very disheartening to hear that a new rate regime is coming to effect, without thinking about the plight of marketers who sold these merchandise at an high-priced price “The Federal Government wishes to understand that some of us bought loans from banks to run this business and we have to pay pastime on them. We are still struggling with money owed incurred before this make bigger with nothing to exhibit for it, or how can somebody work with solely N2.00, and but we will pay workers, hold the loan and additionally fulfill our tasks to the government. “Yes, it is mandatory that we meet the wishes of FIRS, pay country taxes, DPR fees, pay Weight and measure fees, pay salaries of our workers, pay union dues, pay our insurance charges and of course, purchase diesel to power mills at our more than a few filling stations. So, when we removed all these costs we are left with almost nothing.”
Petrol stations’ expenses vary
Meanwhile, most of the filling stations visited in Abuja yesterday, had been selling between N147.40 and N148.70 per litre. In Ogun State, filling stations sold between N148 and N151 per litre.It was bought for between N145 and N150 per litre in Ondo, while in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, most filling stations sold at N147.50.
CUPP kicks
Condemning the hike, Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP in a assertion with the aid of its Co-Spokesman, Mark Adebayo, amomg others, described the enlarge as “an insensitive and wicked infliction of pains on Nigerians who are yet to get better from the debilitating consequences of Covid-19, which the current government did next to nothing to assuage the suffering masses and small scale businesses.
This government has demonstrated, time and again, that it lacks empathy for the struggling of the citizens below an economy that has been so terribly mismanaged due to its obvious incompetence and humongous corruption.
“We endorse the authorities to immediately revert to either the N123.00 that it was once reduced to at some point of the lockdown or, higher still, make it N100.00 flat which would cushion the blended terrible consequences of Covid-19 and the badly managed economic system of the country.”
