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Fuel Price to hit N600 per litre as marketers issue alert
Following what marketers referred to as a “Act Of Sabotage” by haulage companies across the nation, the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), often known as fuel, may rise.
According to research by ENIGERIA, tanker drivers are charging marketers unlawful fees that range from N50,000 to N100,000 for each 33,000 litres of fuel tanker capacity.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) claims that the fees are not only arbitrary but also illegal, increasing the operational costs that members must pay.
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Confirming the development, national President of IPMAN, Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo, warned that if Federal Government fails to prevail on the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), to stop the imposition of illegal levies on her members, it may lead to hike in pump price of petrol.
He said a meeting of the Central Working Committee (CWC) of IPMAN held recently in Abuja, during when they raised concerns on the implication of the action as well as informing the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) of the act of sabotage being perpetrated by tanker drivers in the distribution of products.
Okoronkwo said: “We want the Federal government and NNPCL to be aware that Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) is allegedly the number one enemy of fuel subsidy removal and deregulation.”
He said that the PTD had allegedly exhibited an act of sabotage on PMS distribution by levying IPMAN members for each truck loaded at the depot.
According to him, the charges differ depending at what depot the marketer is loading.
The president further said “the levy imposed on their IPMAN members by tanker drivers had further depleted the little profit left for them to keep their fuel distribution business going, as a truck load of PMS initially which initially costs them about seven million naira to load but with the subsidy removal, had been pushed to above 23 million naira to load and transport the same product to their various fuel stations and we have been fighting extortion by petroleum tanker drivers for about 10 years now and we have been telling them that this market is based on profit but our pleas had fallen on deaf ears.”
