The President(AARE) Oyo/Ogbomoso lndegene and Marketers I. M B of NUPENG lbadan Depot, Comrade Olakojo Olanrewaju has raised the alarm that the collapse of the Ibadan Depot since 2021 has heightened concern over looming fuel scarcity.
Comrade Olakojo was a guest on AIM FM TV’s burning issues, where he described the persistent petrol shortages as a source of pain to the people.
The oil marketer who spoke extensively on the shortage of petroleum products in the country at large, mentioned on the other hand that the inability of the Ibadan depot to dispense product has led to high cost of product in the private depots in Lagos.
He said ‘‘The Ibadan Depot , Apata area precisely where I work had not been dispensing fuel since 2021, we only depend on private depots in Lagos, Unless something is done and urgently too by the federal government, our members might be forced to shut down their outlets. At the moment, many of them are running out of stock and are closing down because they cannot replenish their stock at the current market price.”
Comrade Olakojo who urged the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to revive its depots across the country to address supply chain disruptions also disclosed that private depot owners are complaining of cost of transporting the products from the vessels to their depots coupled with the current high price of dollar which they use for transactions.
He therefore called on regulatory authorities in the midstream and downstream sub sector to intervene and see how best to address the issue for better distribution management.
“NNPC is in charge of importing the product but they don’t have enough storage facility; hence, the challenge of engaging private depot owners, who (more or less) buy from them,” he said.
“The whole industry is in a situation whereby the supply chain has a lot of logistics problems as it relates to getting the products from the mother vessel down to the depots. From the depots down to various retail outlets – being transported by trucks across the country.
“We have a lot of challenges in terms of distribution of the product,” Comrade Olakojo stated.
To further explain the cause of the current scarcity in Lagos, the oil marketer said there was slow discharge of petrol product from vessels to depots.
“I will like to call on the NNPC in particular to do everything possible to revive their depots. Most of the NNPC depots are not working. I know they are facing a lot of challenges as regards sending petroleum products through pipelines and the attendant pipeline vandalisation and other things.
“There is need for them to have more private depots at the coastal areas, just like any other private depots that have developed their depots.”
He said it is very difficult to get the product at that price now because when NNPC imports petrol, about 80 percent is supplied to private depot owners for upward sales to independent marketers who convey the product to their retail outlet across the country.
Speaking further, he also lamented extortion of marketers by security officers who mount road blocks on the nation’s highways, saying such also adds to cost issues that they face.
On sustainable solution to the petrol scarcity challenge, the President(AARE) Oyo/Ogbomoso lndegene and Marketers I. M B of NUPENG lbadan Depot said government should work hard to ensure that the refineries are working to reduce dependence on importation.
