On Sunday, oil marketers gave the Federal Government conditions that should be met to retain the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, at N165/liter.
According to them, private depots were dispensing the commodity at higher rates than what was approved by the Federal Government despite the many challenges in the downstream oil sector.
They made this known to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority in Abuja, a development that made the agency ask the marketers to report depots that were selling PMS above the approved price.
The General Manager, Corporate Communications Department, NMDPRA, Kimchi Apollo, said in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday that executives of the South-West Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria paid a courtesy visit to the authority where they made their demands known.
In the statement, the Zonal Chairman, IPMAN South-West, Dele Lamidi, said the purpose of the visit was to seek collaboration and support the authority in line with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
He stated that despite all the challenges the association was facing, it had resolved not to embark on any industrial action as a conflict resolution technique, but pointed out that petrol price would be N165/liter if retailers were able to get it at the approved ex-depot rate.
His words, “As far as we are concerned in the South-West, we have gone beyond the strike. The strike is not the solution to any problem because if there is a strike it affects the masses and our businesses.
“We will work together to ensure free flow of petroleum products and also make sure that products are sold at the government-regulated price if we get them at the normal price.”
