The owners of mega filling station across the country have threatened to shut operations over alleged plans by the management of Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) to impose lower pump price of fuel price on them.
According to Vanguard, the Mega Filling Station Owners of Nigeria (AMFSON) at a briefing in Kaduna, claimed that Ibe Kachikwu, the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, had directed that all mega filling stations sell fuel at varying rates of N130.00, N135.00, N140.00 per litre, while their competitors sell at N145 per litre.
The national secretary of AMFSON , Kenneth Nwachukwu, said: “We are kicking against a directive by the Minister of State for Petroleum that we sell fuel for less than N145 per litre. We are all marketers and we get supplies at the same source and at the same price. Why should we be made to sell at N130, N135 and N140 per litre while others sell for N145 per litre? With this pronouncement by the Minister, we foresee a looming fuel scarcity because we may have to shut operations nationwide. ”
We also see fuel scarcity because some unscrupulous marketers would rather get their supplies and sell in the black market at N145 than take the fuel to their stations and this will cause another crisis in the retail chain.” “We have never seen this kind of policy. In fact it will increase corruption which government is fighting tooth and nail to stop.
Some people are already bribing their way at the depots and officials there are selling to them at a price lower than the official one. These people can afford to sell at a price lower than N145. But we buy at official price and as such cannot be forced sell lower than N145,” he added.
Meanwhile, fuel scarcity is set to hit Rivers and Bayelsa states as the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has ordered owners of filling stations in the two states to shut down operations and join its ongoing strike. NUPENG in the zone are currently on strike which was prompted by the refusal of four firms operating in Rivers and Bayelsa states to abide by NUPENG’s policy. The firms are Hilong Engineering Nigeria Limited, Uniterm Nigeria Limited, Specialist Drilling Fluid Nigeria Limited and Fudro Nigeria Limited.