The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), has debunked reports that it plans to hike the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, to N700 per litre.
Dele Tajudeen, Chairman of IPMAN South-west Zone, denied such claims in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Ibadan on Friday.
He, therefore, urged Nigerians to disregard the reports and not engage in panic buying.
Tajudeen stressed that the product’s price would be less than what is being sold presently.
He said; “I want to disabuse the people’s mind that they should not panic about it; there is no cause for alarm, we are in control and nothing like that.
“So, people should be assured that there is no way they can buy petrol more than the price it is being sold now.
“If we look at the price from NNPC retail limited, which is an integral part of NNPC limited, they have more advantages than independent marketers and major marketers.
”So, it was the retail price that they announced they had never given a specific price to the independent marketers.
“However, I have read what somebody put in the paper; it is just speculation and not a reality. Nothing like that; I want to assure the masses.
“There is no way the price can go to N700 as we speak because even if the FX is N700 or N800, that has nothing to take the price of petroleum from N500 to N700”.
This comes after a coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) vowed to protest the alleged planned increase in the pump price of petrol.
