Some oil and gas marketers on Monday appealed to the Federal Government for more time before the implementation of the new pump price regime.
They made the appeal in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.
The marketers said that the sudden implementation of the new pump price, in the face of huge unsold products, would impact negatively on their business and revenue.
NAN recalls that the Federal Government had on Sunday announced 10k immediate reduction in the pump price of petrol from N97 to N87 per litre.
Olumide Ogunmade, the Chairman of the Western Zone of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, while welcoming the reduction in petrol pump price, appealed for more time to enable marketers to recover their investments.
According to Ogunmade, there should be a notice “on the time line” to revert the new pump price because many marketers had unsold products bought with bank loans.
He said: “It will be a great loss to us if such pronouncement is carried out.
“Pump price reversal can be done at depot level, not immediately at the filling stations.
“How do we recover our loans borrowed from banks?
“There is no way we can recover our debts because we are borrowing between 30 per cent and 35 per cent interest rates.”
Idowu Samuel, the IPMAN Chairman in Mosinmi Depot, urged government to give at least two weeks for marketers to revert to N87 per litre.
Samuel said that while members had adjusted to N87 per litre, the dynamics of global oil industry made it imperative for government to urgently address the issues of who pays for the market margin and compensation.
He said: “It is a welcome development, but government should not compel us to revert immediately when we have product that we loaded at oil depot rate.
“Government should listen to the yearnings of marketers to avoid another challenging issue.”
Alhaji Badru Saliu, the President of Oil and Gas Marketers Consultative Forum, said the new pump price of N87 per litre would not be an issue, but the mechanism to be adopted in offsetting markers’ huge investments.
Saliu also appealed to government to give marketers a maximum of one week to sell the old stock, while the Department of Petroleum Resources should monitors filling stations to ensure conformity.