The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has refuted claims that the organisation intends to raise the national average price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), better known as petrol, to N700 per litre.
Dele Tajudeen, the Chairman of IPMAN Southwest Zone, provided the clarification in an interview on Friday in Ibadan, according to NAN.
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He encouraged Nigerians not to buy in a frenzy and to ignore the rumours.
Tajudeen emphasised that the product’s cost will not be more than what is already being offered for sale.
He praised President Bola Tinubu for doing away with the petrol subsidy and added that it was long overdue.
“Even in the PIA bill, it has been clearly stated that the subsidy must be removed. So, I want to commend him for removing the subsidy and say that we are in support. It is because the subsidy was a scam,” he said.
The IPMAN official said the slight increase in pump price was because of the transportation cost and that Nigerians should be at rest as the commodity will not be out of reach for the masses.
“I want to disabuse the people’s mind that they should not panic about it; there is no cause for alarm, we are in control and nothing like that.
“So, people should be assured that there is no way they can buy petrol more than the price it is being sold now.
“If we look at the price from NNPC retail limited, which is an integral part of NNPC limited, they have more advantages than independent marketers and major marketers.
”So, it was the retail price that they announced they had never given a specific price to the independent marketers.
“There is no way the price can go to N700 as we speak because even if the FX is N700 or N800, that has nothing to take the price of petroleum from N500 to N700.”
