The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Kano chapter has directed its members to ignore the new price regime for selling petrol, which the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency on Tuesday evening reduced from N125 per litre to N123.50 per litre.
The directive was given in Kano state by the IPMAN chairman, Alhaji Bashir Danmalam who lamented over the loss members of the association suffered when the first reduction in price of petrol was announced.
You would recall that the PPPRA had last week announced a reduction from N145 per litre to N125 per litre, this according to Danmalam had cost members of IPMAN nationwide a loss of about N5.5 billion naira as a result of government’s sudden action.
Danmalam is accusing the PPPRA of trying to sabotage the Federal Government’s efforts to ensure sustained fuel supply and distribution across the country through some policies that could plunge the sector into a serious crisis.
Speaking during a media briefing on Wednesday night, Danmalam said “We called on government to compensate or support our members who incurred the huge losses due to the sudden reduction in fuel pump price but nothing was given to us”.
“But to our surprise, the private depots owners were paid; none of our members was supported to reduce the losses they incurred. This time around, we will not sell our products at the new price until the old stocks are exhausted.”
The IPMAN chieftain added that the association was the largest employer of labour besides the Federal Government, stressing that members of the union would not continue to operate at a loss.
His words “Apart from the Federal Government, IPMAN is the largest employer of labour in the country and we cannot continue to support the government at this trying time while we are operating at a loss”.
“Even though we are happy with the new development and the Federal Government should be commended for the gesture, the government should consider the fact that no sane marketer or businessman will continue operating their business at a loss.
“Before the last announcement, many of our members had already bought and loaded their vehicles with the product at old prices from Lagos, Port Harcourt and Warri and we spent five to seven days before reaching our destinations. So we are not going to sell the product at the new price until we sell the old stocks.”
He said the union would not hesitate to ask its members to withdraw their services should any filling station of their members be closed for not selling at the new pump price of N123.50 per litre.
