Marketers of petroleum products have issued warnings that filling stations are shutting down as a result of rising operating costs.
Vanguard reported that marketers criticized President Bola Tinubu’s removal of the fuel subsidy, claiming that steps that should have been taken prior to the removal were not taken, while speaking at the National Executive Council meeting of the Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria, NOGASA, in Abuja.
The marketers claimed that before the petrol subsidy was removed, the country’s refineries needed to be running and foreign exchange problems needed to be settled.
The marketers questioned why the federal government couldn’t stop the country’s illegal dollar trade.
The meeting’s keynote speaker, the President of NOGASA, Mr. Benneth Korie, cautioned that the country’s downstream was under severe strain as a result of the closure of stations owing to challenging operational circumstances.
According to him, depot owners are severely impacted by the rising price of oil and the fluctuating exchange rate, to the point where many of them are essentially deserted because their owners are unable to obtain bank loans at reasonable interest rates to finance their operations.
Due to the difficulty, instability, and soaring foreign exchange rates, banks are unwilling to guarantee the flow of funds to stakeholders. Many depots are currently empty or without supplies.
“As of right now, filling stations are closing down in large numbers every day, dealers are going out of business, and many more are on the verge of bankruptcy due to their inability to secure funds to facilitate orders for their stations.
“The worst hit are filling stations, whose owners find it extremely difficult to secure funds to procure products for their retail outlets.”
