Fuel Queues In Nigeria Driven By Panic Buying, Let’s Be Patient As Supply Stabilises

President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Maigandi, has stated that the major reason for queue in most filling stations across the country is because of the habit of “panic buying” by Nigerians after experiencing scarcity.

Maigandi said this while speaking in a interview with Newsmen on Friday about the recent fuel scarcity in the country.

He assured Nigerians that, “most of the filling stations have fuel but the queue is because of panic buying, because immediately people see there is queue they want to buy more.”

Explaining the primary contributing factors causing fuel scarcity in Nigeria, he stated, “there was protest for almost 7 days and most of the depots were not loading. During the protest we informed all our marketers to sell their products in 24 hours so that they will be no side effects in terms of the purchase of the petrol.

“Immediately when they called off then we rushed to where we are supposed to load this product and we have started loading. Some of the trucks are already on the way, but we are having some challenges; the vessels that are supposed to bring the product to the tank farm, were experiencing some delay in movement due to the rain but that problem has been solved.”

Maigandi appealed to Nigerians to be patient because some vessels have started discharging and the NNPC has done its best.

In response to the allegation that some IPMAN members are hoarding petroleum products, he noted, “my members will never hoard petroleum products. If at all we wanted to hoard then during the protest we would have hoarded but we told our members to start selling 24 hours.”
Shedding light on how the black marketers get their supply, Maigandi revealed, “We are not the only marketers; there are middle marketers, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) retail, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN… I represent the Independent Petroleum marketers.”

Asserting that there has been an improvement from the vessels, he explained, “ we contacted the NNPC, there is serious progress and we advised them to start loading their reserve wherever they have in the whole country and they have started.”

Revealing the reason between the disparities in prices between major marketers and independent marketers, he explained, “IPMAN gets their products from three sources and the equation of balancing the quantity is not done properly. The IPMAN covers about 85% retail outlet in the country, so in a situation whereby the product from NNPC isn’t enough, we have to buy from the private depot owners at a higher rate, so in a case where we buy at a higher rate we have to add our margin.”