By Olamilekan Adigun
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has reported suspend the sale of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol to independent marketers.
The suspension is coming days after NNPC hiked the product’s price.
The price hike has caused more hardship to Nigerians.
Filling stations in Osogbo, Osun State capital are selling fuel between N1,000 and N1,050 per litre.
The National Vice President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Hammed Fashola, told The PUNCH that the NNPC stopped selling fuel to independent marketers on Tuesday when it raised the price of a litre of PMS to N855 and above across its retail outlets nationwide.
Independent marketers sold the product for as much as N1,200 and N1,300/litre in some states following the upward review of prices by the NNPC.
Fashola wondered why the national oil firm would suspend the sale of petrol to the marketers take without any official communication, even when the marketers had paid for the product over two months ago.
Asked if it was true that many of the independent marketers did not go to the depot to lift fuel, Fashola responded, “What are they going there to do? They have stopped our loading. All the tickets we have in the kitties of NNPC, they are not treating them; everything has been suspended.”
When our correspondent inquired to know if the suspension was done despite having paid for the product ordered, he replied, “Yes, our tickets were suspended for loading. They have not been attending to us since yesterday (Tuesday), and there is no official communication yet.
“It is a very bad situation for somebody who has paid for the product, maybe like two to three months ago, and all of a sudden, you stopped loading, maybe because you want to change the price. And it’s not the fault of that customer, because it is supposed to be cash-and-carry. So, I think the NNPC should look at that situation critically.”
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