Mr Isiaka Yahaya, the Auditor General, Sahara Unit of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), on Friday said that marketers of petroleum products were not really making profits.
Yahaya told newsmen in Lagos that marketers were facing serious problems of loading and transportation of products and this had eaten into their profit margins.
“ Imagine that the landing cost of petrol from the Pipelines Products Marketing Company is N84.66 per litre.
Mr Isiaka Yahaya, the Auditor General, Sahara Unit of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), on Friday said that marketers of petroleum products were not really making profits.
Yahaya told newsmen in Lagos that marketers were facing serious problems of loading and transportation of products and this had eaten into their profit margins.
“ Imagine that the landing cost of petrol from the Pipelines Products Marketing Company is N84.66 per litre.
“Additional payment of N3 per litre is made for storage charges and another N5 per litre is paid for other charges to the port authority, jetties owners, union levies, among others.
“Again, to hire a truck to transport 33, 000 litres of petrol within Lagos will cost nothing less than N100, 000.
“To transport a truck of petrol to Enugu will cost about N260, 000.
“Now, after all these costs, people will expect us to sell at N97 a litre and think we are making money. It is just not possible, “ he said.
Yahaya said that there was the need for the Federal Government to still intervene by way of providing subsidy to the marketers.
A marketer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told NAN that government agencies were to blame for the current scarcity of petrol.
He said that lack of openness on the part of government agencies charged with regulating supply was the cause of disparity in prices at filling stations.
He said that government agencies were responsible for “artificial scarcity” as they were not selling at the official rate to marketers.
“These government agencies cannot claim not to know that the depots, through which they channel petrol to marketers, are collecting extra charges.
“And these extra charges are the cause of the increase in prices at filling stations.
“The price we buy petrol from the depot owners eventually fluctuates between N94 and N97 per litre.
“And this does not include the trucking of the product from the depot to the numerous filling stations across the country, “ he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Osten Olorunshola, the Director of Department of Petroleum Resources, has said that there was no justification for marketers to sell above the official price.
He had said that marketers selling above N97 per litre would be brought to book.
Discussion about this post