The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, on Friday said that the price of fuel from Dangote Refinery, as of last week, was higher than the price of the product from other sources.
IPMAN said members must go where the price is lower and where they get profit, adding that they have to pity Nigerians.
Yakubu Suleiman, National Assistant Secretary of IPMAN, stated this on Friday while fielding questions on Arise Television’s Morning Show programme.
Suleiman argued that prices of petroleum products are determined by international pricing, insisting that Dangote is supposed to be disclosing the amount he’s going to sell his product.
He said: “Prices are determined by international pricing. Dangote is supposed to be saying like every day, ‘This is the price I’m going to sell this product’.
“But he cannot be able to do that unless he (Dangote) engages the stakeholders. And you cannot just say okay, we must only buy in his own depot.
“IPMAN cannot just sit down and say ‘We will tell our members, all of you go to Dangote Refinery and buy your product and load’. We cannot just do that. This is a deregulated system.
We have to source where products are much cheaper. Then we would inform our members to go and load product in any depot that the product is cheaper.
“If Dangote has a product and is selling N1000, let’s assume, and there are other places that are selling N900. We can’t just say because for the sake we are doing business with Dangote, ‘Okay go and do it’. It’s not profitable to us. We must go where the price is lower; where we get profit. That is it.”
Continuing, the IPMAN scribe added, “We are in a deregulated economy but Dangote is like trying to monopolize the whole issue. Fine. Let us know if there is monopoly in the whole system. But we believe that it’s now deregulation.
“Like last week, Dangote’s price is higher than other places. Because if you can go by the price, the international price, crude has already started coming down.
“If I could remember, as of last week, he gave N995 per litre, and you have to bring your cargo and load. How much will you pay the cargo? How much will be the other charges to your depot? And how much will go to the depot? And we expect independent marketers to go and sell it. Can we go and sell? Look at we have to pity Nigerians.”