The Independent Petro
leum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) on Saturday urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to increase petrol allocation to its members across depots in the country.
IPMAN National Operations Controller,  Mr Mike Osatuyi,made the appeal in an interview with newsmen in Lagos against the persisting fuel scarcity.
According to Osatuyi, the 78 per cent import allocation to NNPC led to the disruption in the petroleum products distribution chain which, he said is causing the ongoing scarcity.
“The only way to address the lingering scarcity is when government through the NNPC/Petroleum Pipeline Marketing Company (PPMC) increases independent marketers’ allocations.
“This is because we control about 87 per cent of the country’s outlets.
“The fuel situation has been fragile since the NNPC assumed the role of the sole importer of petrol,’’ he said.
Osatuyi noted that the supply gap over a period of time now was because the NNPC imported 78 per cent of the petrol needs of the country, while marketers battled with just 22 per cent.
“The NNPC has access to forex (foreign exchange) because they do the SWAP deal and therefore, are not constrained by the challenge.
“But for marketers, it is difficult to source the dollar and therefore not profitable to import under the present condition.
“Most of IPMAN members have been queuing at various depots for months in anticipation of loading but to no avail.
“If IPMAN allocation is increased, it will go a long way in addressing the country’s scarcity because, if we have, we will sell,’’ the controller said.
Meanwhile, some marketers at both Ejigbo Satellite and Mosinmi depots, who preferred anonymity, alleged that they have been marginalised by the corporation at the depots.
The marketers lamented that its members were being schemed out by the NNPC.
According to them, trucks belonging to members of the association which had been at the depots for 10 days were not given adequate supplies.
“This is despite having loading vouchers worth over N5 billion with the NNPC.
“We have over N4 to N5 billion vouchers with NNPC but they refused to load members of IPMAN appropriately.
“Instead of loading about 50 trucks, we end up getting between 10 and 15 trucks,’’ the marketers said.
They also claimed that the corporation was only loading its retail outlets that even lifted their products on credit.
Efforts to get the PPMC spokesperson to react to the IPMAN allegations proved abortive as his telephone line was switched off.
However, findings from some filling stations within the Lagos metropolis revealed that motorists were experiencing difficulty having access to purchase petrol.
For instance, the NNPC retail outlet at Onipanu was dispensing petrol with over 200 vehicles on queue while the Mobil Filling Station at Anthony was not dispensing and its gates barricaded.
Black marketers now sell five litres of fuel at N2,500, while 20 litres sold for N25,000.