From Paul Osuyi, Asaba

Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has attributed the hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to activities of middlemen in the industry.

Chairman of IPMAN in Delta State, Zino Onaemor, stated this in Warri after a meeting with the state Petroleum Products Monitoring Committee with the state Commissioner for Oil and Gas, Emman Amgbaduba as chairman.

The meeting was aimed at resolving the scarcity of fuel in the state and reducing the suffering of residents.

Onaemor urged the committee to interface with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and depot owners to eradicate the activities of middle men.

He said independent marketers do not buy the products at government regulated pump price because of the activities of agents and middlemen. Onaemor said once the middlemen were removed and the prices brought down, marketers would be encouraged to sell at government approved pump price.

On his part, Amgbaduba assured that the fuel crisis would soon be resolved, and urged residents not to engage in panic buying.

He said with the delivery of 20 million litres of petrol at the Warri depot and the expected arrival of additional 15 million litres in few days, residents would no longer need to queue to buy the product.

Amgbaduba enjoined marketers to join hands with government to ensure that petrol was made available, accessible and affordable to ameliorate the sufferings of the people.

He said the State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa is pained by the suffering of Deltans over the non availability of the product, hence the setting up of the monitoring team to interface with all relevant stakeholders to address the situation.

The commissioner decried the inability of the Federal Government to regulate and fix official pump price on PMS which is under it’s purview, adding that non availability of the product had caused untold hardship for citizens, and promised that the state government intervention would soon bring relief to all.

The meeting is coming on the heels of inspection of filling stations in Asaba and Warri by the monitoring committee.