By Emeka Ugwuanyi
Oil marketers have stated that the new prices of petrol churned out by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for different states of the federation apply only to NNPCL retail outlets and do not affect other marketers’ filling stations in any way.
Speaking with The Business Intelligence Africa (TBI Africa), the former Chairman of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Managing Director of 11Plc, Mr. Tunji Oyebanji, said: “The price template published by TBI Africa is for NNPCL stations and not for marketers.
“We currently operate a deregulated market and with a deregulated market, customers are free to make a choice.”
When asked why there is scarcity of the product and long queues at the filling stations with the attendant suffering Nigerians go through when the subsector has been fully deregulated? Besides, wouldn’t it be better for the marketers to come out with their own price band to lessen the unnecessary scarcity and hardship?
Oyebanji explained that current scarcity Nigerians are experiencing now is because the marketers have not been operating at full tanks before now as NNPCL was the only importer but in the shortest time, there will be fuel everywhere and every marketer will be selling at his chosen price. Customers will also have to choose filling stations they want for their purchases.
He said: “We were really not operating on top tank before last week. We were just having enough for the days sales, when the stock drops we top it. It is not as if marketers had their storage capacities filled. It is like you’re driving your car and you don’t want to be driving at the bottom of your car’s tank, maybe when it is quarter tank or less, you branch into a filling station and fill it up and continue watching how things will go. But because we are dependent on NNPC, we have to wait. So, what has happened in the last few weeks is like we have been operating like on quarter tank. So, when President Tinubu made that statement on Monday and people rushed to filling stations. This is what caused the problem we are seeing currently.
“You would have noticed that many filling stations started adjusting their pump prices beginning from this morning (Wednesday morning). Every marketer is adjusting its petrol especially now NNPC has done its own, some marketers’ price may be lower, higher or the same as that of NNPC.
“People have to be patient and be buying their normal consumptions. There is no need to fill your tank if it is not necessary or stock petrol at home. What you see is that people now fill up vehicle’s tanks and also fill their kegs with fuel for keeps saying there will be no fuel next week. That is not true. There will be fuel. People are just engaging in unnecessary panic buying.”
On MOMAN members having a price band, Oyebanji said: “We are now in a deregulated environment, we cannot come together and fix price. Otherwise, we will become a cartel. Individual companies will set its own price which will be displayed on forecourt of any branch. Eventually when the situation normalizes, you go to the retail outlet that the price is favourable to you.”
He noted that the NNPCL price template was an internal memo, which was not meant for the public but someone circulated it, adding that the marketers also have their own internal memo on our own prices.
On protection of consumers from prospective profiteering marketers, Oyebanji said the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) and Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) will ensure consumers are protected.
Corroborating what Oyebanji said, the Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Mr. Clement Isong, said: “We (MOMAN) do not discuss nor set pump prices between members.”
