Why IPMAN Is Allowed To Sale Petrol N230 Per Liter In Zamfara

Barr. Abdul Rasheed Haruna, Chairman committee on distribution, monitoring and sales of Petroleum in Zamfara state, give insight on why Independent Petroleum Marketters are allowed to sell the product at not more than N230 per liter in this Interview with Grassrootsafrica.

There are different prices of petroleum at independent Marketters even though the State government has establishment your monitoring committee which you are the chairman. Why?

We have tackle the problem of hardships cause by Petroleum scarcity in Zamfara state because we have met with the members of Independent Petroleum Marketters Association of Nigeria IPMAN who are the major owners of these filling stations and discussed about these problems with a view to proper solutions and how best to address the issues.

During the meeting, the Independent Marketters told us that they cannot sell the petroleum product at the official government rate of N165 per liter because they have no means of getting the fuel at the official rate not to talk of selling it at that price.

Government now directed during the meeting that no matter what it takes, these marketters should not sell petrol above N230.

Government again said ok, with these arrangements we are going to create a task Force to ensure the monitoring of all the agreement we have reached, that is how we arrive at the current rate of petroleum in Zamfara, why and how this committee comes into existence.

Meanwhile all the major marketters are selling fuel at the official government rate, this is why you can see petrol everywhere.

What is the relationship between your committees and the marketters?

We maintain cordial relationship and I understanding, for example the IPMAN Chairman confirmed to me that the fuel they purchased Tuesday has an encreament of N9 per liter but they instructed their members not add anything else, not a single Kobo beside the additional N9 on each liter.

This shows that the members of IPMAN are complying with the arrangements of government and are trying to ensure that people are not flung into more predicaments. If we say no there might not be petrol in the state because the major marketters cannot be able to provide adequately, the demand of the vehicle owners.

But sometimes back, fuel was sold in Zamfara state at the rate of N270 to N280 before the establishment of the task force on Monitoring, distribution and selling of Petroleum products in Zamfara state by the state government.

There were times when the pump price N270 from major Marketters as the fuel was not even there, so after our meeting with the independent marketters who have already stopped supplying fuel to the state and base on the understanding that surfaced from the meeting, they decided to continue with the supply.

That is why we have different pump price of fuel, sometimes it’ll go up, sometimes it’ll come down. I bought fuel at N200 today, which is a good development

What are your committees challenges?

The challenges that we are facing as task force on Monitoring, distribution and sales of Petroleum products in Zamfara is, you know we are collecting all manifest of petrol sent to Zamfara, I call the Chairman of IPMAN few hours ago to enquire about the quantity of fuel sent to the state, I realized that the shortage of the product in the state is drastically reducing.

I understand from the manifest that even our Mega stations did not get the product Tuesday which is why the problem minimally persist.

The IPMAN chairman explained that even the small shortage we experienced in the state is not cause by the marketters, he told me that it was only one of the deport in Lagos that supply fuel worked last Tuesday, even the Warri deport did not supply fuel Tuesday.

So it is because of the epileptic function of the various deport supplying fuel to the nation that is the cause of problems of fuel in Zamfara.

The good news is that we understand that there are ships on shore with the product coming into Nigeria which arrival we hope will subside the shortage.

What did the marketters explained to convince the government that they are buying petrol at the exobitant rate?

They said each liter cost about N175 naira without the transportation cost, so if they sale it at government rate, the money they spent is not recoup, with this realization they decided to fold their arms and stop supplying until the issues from the various deport are addressed, that was when rate skyrocket, we investigated and found that the fuel was sold N270 to N280 Naira per liter in states like Kaduna and Sokoto, so we said it should not exceed N230 here in Zamfara.

What is your advice to the people of the State and the country in general?

My advise to the people of the state is to be patient because our Committee is up and doing with a view to address hardship experience by the shortage of fuel, we are trying to make sure that it does not escalate.

I am calling on the vast populace to think positively and pray for government because the government is doing everything possible to alleviate their sufferings.