The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN have advocated the increase in the petrol pump price from 169 naira per litre, arguing that projecting exchange rate has invalidated the current pricing template.
IPMAN also confessed that the selling above the official pump price is because the marketer buy the product above the ex-depot rate from the private depots.
It also decried government’s inability to stop smuggling and said that in neighbouring countries, a litre sells for as much as 500 naira.
IPMAN President Debo Ahmed explained that the exchange rate is always shooting and that with the present situation, they have to review the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL rate because the dollar has gone up,
He also noted that the government was finding it difficult to remove the subsidy it pays on fuel because of its implications for the masses.
Ahmed however argued that since marketers buy petrol between 185 and 190 naira per litre from private depots, it had become impossible for them to sell at the official rate.
