The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association Of Nigeria (IPMAN), an association that oversees the distribution of petroleum products, has cautioned consumers of premium motor spirit (PMS) against panic buying saying the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd is on top of the situation.
The National Secretary of IPMAN, James Tor, said this on Tuesday and commended the intervention of the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari.
Fuel queues resurfaced at filling stations in major parts of the country, a situation that the NNPCL said was a logistic issue.
But the Public Relations Officer OF IPMAN, Chinedu Ukaike, alleged that the product was not available.
He claimed that it would take at least two weeks for the queues to disappear.
But Tor said in a monitored interview on Arise TV the queues were not a result of the availability of products.
He clarified, “If there is no product, then we cannot give out anything. But happily, now, there are products, and the federal government is doing much. yesterday, our national president was explaining to us that the NNPCL has opened up some of their depots so that we can have products supplied and distributed to the public.
“But happily enough, I want to announce to the public that there shouldn’t be any panic buying, because when this thing happens, and people start rushing here and there and trying to accumulate the products, that effect will go a long way to affect everybody.
He explained that Nigeria exists in a global system that is influenced by the crisis in the Middle East between the Israelis and Iran.
“All these things if we put them together (impacts the Nigerian market),” Tor said adding “any slightest thing that happens in the world, will affect the supply and distribution of petroleum products”
However, he expressed confidence in the role of the NNPCL in playing in ensuring energy security for Nigerians.
Tor said, “Good enough, an NNPC is ready and has opened up some of the depots so that they will start bringing in our product for distribution. I want to assure you that in any moment from now, you will see that the queues will be going down because they have intensified the supply.
“With what the NNPC is doing, very in a little, few days, you will start seeing the impact of what they are doing because IPMAN is involved.”