The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) says its members were unable to load petrol from the Dangote refinery for days.

Abubakar Garima, IPMAN’s president, spoke on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ programme on Wednesday.

Garima expressed surprise at the comments of Aliko Dangote, founder of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, that marketers were bypassing his company to purchase imported petrol.

On October 29, Dangote had said his refinery had over 500 million litres of petrol available for sale.

The billionaire said retailers were not collecting available products to ease petrol queues, resulting in financial losses for the company.

In response, however, Garima said IPMAN members were not importing petrol, as claimed by Dangote.

The IPMAN president said the refinery should allow independent petrol marketers to register directly to facilitate access to the product, rather than require them to go through the NNPC.

“If he (Dangote) can be able to sell the product to us directly, we can buy the product, because we have to pay before we pick. Presently, we have N40 billion with the NNPC but we cannot source the product,” Garima said.

“Just of recent, there are some of our marketers that NNPC sent to load in Dangote refinery and those marketers stayed with their trucks for four days, and they couldn’t load.”

Garima said allowing independent marketers to load directly from the Dangote refinery — as NNPC does — could lead to a reduction in petrol prices.

The IPMAN president also urged Dangote to review his prices if marketers are opting to import petrol instead.

“Since he (Dangote) says marketers are not buying his product, he should check his price properly. Is it higher than what they are obtaining outside or is it the same rate?”

Garima said although some marketers might opt to sell imported petrol, Dangote should evaluate external market prices and consider the delivery timelines for marketers to stay competitive.