Following the reduction of the pump price of PMS from N125 to N123.50 per litre, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN) in Kano State has directed its members to continue selling their products at the former price until they exhaust their old stocks
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) had on Tuesday announced another reduction of pump price from N125 per litre to 123.50 Per litre.
But Alhaji Bashir Danmalam, the IPMAN Chairman, Kano Branch, who gave the directive while speaking to newsmen in Kano on Wednesday, said members of the association will not comply with the new price regime until after they sold all their old stocks.
According to him, the last time the Federal Government reduced the pump price of the product from N145 per litre to N125 per litre its members nationwide lost over N5.5 billion as a result of the sudden reduction.
“We called on government compensate or support our members who incurred the huge losses due to the sudden reduction in fuel pump price but nothing was given to us.
“But to our surprise the private depots owners were paid but none of our members was supported to reduce the losses they incurred.This time around we will not sell our product until the old stocks are exhausted.”
He noted that IPMAN is the largest employer of labour outside the Federal Government, adding that members of the union will not continue to operate at a loss.
“Apart from the Federal Government, IPMAN is the largest employer of labour in the country and we cannot afford to continue to support the government at this trying time while as business people we are operating at a loss,” Danmalam said.
He accused the management of the PPPRA of trying to sabotage the Federal Government’s efforts to ensure sustained fuel supply and distribution across the country through some policies that could plunge the sector into serious crisis.
