Fuel to sell higher in South East unless… —IPMAN

The price of fuel in the South-East region may be higher than other parts of the country, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Enugu depot has said.

IPMAN warned that to avert such a situation, the Federal Government had to reactivate the Emene depot, in Enugu State, which had been lying moribund since 2005.

The association chairman, Chinedu Anyaso stated this on Friday while responding to the hike in fuel price.

The depot he said was serving Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, parts of Imo, Abia, Cross River and North-Central, including Benue State.

He decried the state of the depot, which according to him was strategic to the national economy,

He said, “We want to use this opportunity to renew our appeal to the federal government to repair the Emene depot in Enugu so that our members can start loading products from here.

“This depot has been shutdown for over 15 years due to what they called pipeline vandalism.

“Our members are suffering and the people of the southeast and other areas that source products from the depot are suffering.

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“For instance, ex-depot price has been increased to N151.56, we will have to pay additional N14 for transportation and other expenses per litre depending on where we loaded before it is discharged in our stations.

“That will not be the case, if the product is pumped to the depot in Enugu and lifted from there, it will be much cheaper for us and enable us to sell between N160 and N162 per litre.

“We are ready to work with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on security of pipelines.

“And fixing the Enugu Depot will also help a better deregulated sector, which the federal government is pursuing.”

Anyaso said fuel price could cost up to “N170 in the South-East because of the cost of delivering the products” at the stations in the zone.

He, therefore, urged members of IPMAN in the zone to continue to provide quality services to the people to the best of their ability.

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