The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) yesterday said there are still queues at petrol retail outlets because the supply has not matched the demand for the product.
IPMAN President Debo Ahmed, who broke the news to The Nation in a text message, said the inadequate supply of the product from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to the retail outlets was also responsible for the scarcity that caused the queues.
Last week, retail outlets increased the pump price of petrol from N165 per litre to N175 per litre.
But Ahmed said logistics, such as good access roads and lack of prompt payment of bridging claims from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), were also hampering the distribution of petrol, also called the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
The IPMAN president said since the country relies of imported petrol, any break in the supply of the product could cause queues to spring up at the filling stations.
Advising the NNPC to bridge the supply gap, the union leader insisted that the situation must have resulted from insufficient supply.
The queues around petrol stations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have not abated, though the product is sold at N174 per litre at NNPC retail outlets and other major marketers vend it at N175 per litre.
Besides, black marketers have not quit the expressways and some streets where they sell 10 litre in plastic cans for N3,000.
Responding to why there were still queues at petrol stations, despite the recent hike in pump price, Ahmed said: “It is one of the many factors contributing to petrol queues in filling stations. Other factors are lack of adequate supply and distribution bottlenecks.
“Logistics impediments, like bad roads in this rainy season, non-payment of PEF promptly and other distribution impediments.
“The subsisting queues may be as a result of inadequate supply from NNPC.
“Nigeria depends on imported petrol. Immediately there is a little break in the total availability of products, definitely it will trigger queues at the filling stations.
“The queues that are happening at filling stations may be lack of adequate supplies. So, NNPC should brace up and cover the gap.”