The Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria, which represents oil marketers, has emphasized that in order for its members to continue operating, they must sell their petrol stock at the new pricing.
Due to their inability to raise the necessary funds to load from depots and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, several of IPMAN’s members have closed their doors due to the elimination of fuel subsidies.
The IPMAN President, Chinedu Okoronkwo, revealed this on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, during an appearance on Channels Television. He said that its members instantly upped the petrol price at the pump from over N500 per liter to over N617 per liter on Tuesday morning to stay afloat.
Okoronkwo claimed that following the NNPCL’s pricing adjustment on Tuesday morning, independent marketers increased their prices at retail locations to reflect the current state of things.
“You must run a business. You will purchase anything at a new price if you go back. If you are selling N520 and your supply source suddenly changes, you must continue to operate your business.
“Some of my members reached the point where they were loading products into their tankers when they received word that the pricing had changed. They did not load them again, some people are even squabbling right now to figure out how to apply both the old price and the new pricing.”
The head of IPMAN claimed that while the timing of the price increase was not the problem, the government needed to figure out a way to lessen its effects and relieve pressure on the dollar.
On Tuesday, the chief executive officer of NNPCL Group, Mele Kyari, attributed the increase in petrol prices at the pump to market factors.
With the liberalization of the oil industry, he claimed, market forces would sometimes drive up petrol prices and other times drive them down.
