The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers are having disagreements with each other over the pump price of petrol.
As the issue of fuel ravages most parts of the country in the last two weeks, many fuel stations increased the pump price of petrol higher than the official price.
For instance, for instance in Bayelsa the price of a litre of petrol went as high as N300 per litre and some filling stations in Abuja sell as high as N225 per litre.
NUPENG issued a 24-hour ultimatum to IPMAN members on Sunday to revert to the official pump price of N165 per litre of petrol, but IPMAN says such directive is not within the former’s purview.
Chairman, IPMAN Benin Depot, Mr Douglas Iyike, stated on Monday in Lagos that NUPENG’s ultimatum was misplaced.
Iyike stressed that NUPENG as a union has no powers to take over the duties of regulatory agencies in the petroleum sector.
He maintained that the increment is due to the hike in the ex-depot price of petrol which should be the area where NUPENG should direct its threat and not the marketers.
He said; “We have read in newspapers the supposed 24-hour notice issued to marketers regarding the increment in the pump price of petrol.
“We want to place it on record that the increment is not due to any fault of oil marketers because we can only sell based on the price at which we buy petrol from the depots.
“There has been an increment in the ex-depot price which has left marketers with no option than to increase the pump price of petrol above the official N165 per litre in recent weeks.
“We believe that addressing the issue of the ex-depot price should be the focus of NUPENG and not attempting to picket petrol stations which might lead to a breakdown of law and order,” he stated.
IPMAN asked NUPENG to channel its energy to the activities of some of its members who engage in reckless driving, illegal charges and diversion of petroleum products.
Last week the NNPC limited said that it had distributed a total of 387.59milion Litres of PMS in one week from February 14 to 20.
The company also said that the figure represents an average daily distribution of 55.4 million litres.
This was contained in the weekly report on details of how the NNPC distributed Premium Motor Spirit to Nigerians in the week under review.
However, in spite of the claim by the NNPC that it supplies 55.4 litres of fuel, filling stations with credibility and reputation for continuous dispensing of fuel are left empty and dry.
While the queues have refused to disappear and are indeed getting longer, the black market boys who connive with filling stations to sell at abominable prices are getting the product.
There are speculations that some marketers are sabotaging the efforts of the NNPC by diverting the fuel to areas where the product can be sold above the pump price.