We Shall Comply With DPR’s Directive, But … – IPMAN Boss

The Independent
Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN) says it would comply with the directive of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to sell Premiums Motor Spirit (PMS) at N87.00 per litre on the condition that depots sell to marketers at N77.66 per litre.
Rivers State chapter chairman of IPMAN, Mr Sunny Nkpe, who spoke to newsmen Saturday in Port Harcourt said the body has directed its members to sell PMS and other petroleum products at government approved prices only when marketers buy the product from the depots at the official pump prices.
The IPMAN boss said it would not be advisable for marketers to run at a loss in the sale of fuel to consumers, stressing that IPMAN’s challenge has been how to buy fuel from the depot at official price.
He said, “we have directed our members to comply with DPR’s directive by selling PMS and other products at government approved prices. But getting PMS at the private depots for N77.66 per litre is a challenge.
“For now, government depots have no fuel and that is why some of us go to the private depots to buy. The truth is that we are ready to comply with the instruction from the DPR, but it is necessary to consider how much marketers buy products from the depots which is always above the approved prices”.
It would be recalled that the zonal operations controller of DPR in Port Harcourt, Mrs Nyebuchi Sibeudu, had insisted that there would be no going back on government approved prices and that any marketer who sells above the official pump price of N87.00 per litre would have his or her filling station sanctioned.
She advised marketers to avoid buying from depot where the price is high such that they would be tempted to sell above government regulated prices.
Meanwhile, the DPR zonal boss has revealed that recently sealed stations had been unsealed because they had reverted to selling at the approved prices.

Chris Oluoh