Chinedu Okoronkwo, the President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has said that the association has no plans to increase fuel pump prices across the country.
He stated this during a recent interview via Arise News.
According to him, IPMAN has not started importing fuel into the country, so, there is no way they will increase fuel pump prices. Okoronkwo said:
- “We are saddened by these speculators, because by the time you speculate people begin to adjust prices. This PMS is just like any other product, the noise around it is getting unbearable.
- “I want to state here that we are not making any effort to increase prices. We are still getting our products from NNPCL majorly, and these people are the people we look up to and they have come out clearly that they are not intending to increase prices.
- “I think this will go a long way to douse every tension that for now, there is nothing to worry about, believing that NNPCL will do everything within its power to ensure that they are helping my members to get this product.”
During the interview, Okoronkwo also addressed questions raised about the level of honesty the NNPCL has displayed to Nigerians regarding the fact that oil prices are rising and there is a forex crisis in the country, yet the NNPCL claims that there are no plans to increase fuel prices. According to Okoronkwo, the NNPCL is not being dishonest.
He said:
- “NNPCL controls all the value chain in this petroleum industry, they can also do something internally to see how they can stabilize this issue and I think that is what they are doing right now. It is just like a man having different ways of getting income. The business is in a competitive mode now, they can leverage on a little profit.”
- “I am not telling you that we are not interested in importing but I said for now, we have not started, and we are making arrangements. There is this forex window where NNPCL and some importers could still get other than the parallel market, that I&E window is still there.”
Meanwhile, during the same interview on Arise News, Segun Kadir, the Director General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) said the association supports the removal of fuel subsidies. He acknowledged the statements by the NNPCL and IPMAN that there are no plans to increase fuel pump prices as being good for Nigerians.
He, however, stated that the removal is not where it stops, he urged the government to deal with the implications of the removal. He said:
- “I think it is important for us to appreciate the fact that if you remove fuel subsidy, the price of PMS will continue to adjust in one way or the other to the international price of crude oil and the dynamics that we know that sector to have.
- “Government needs to be attentive to the signals and to ensure that the price does not escalate beyond the reach of the average citizen. Already it is affecting commercial activities, logistics costs, it is also making the environment to be charged.”