The Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, DAPPMAN, has urged the Dangote Refinery to adopt an open-door supply policy and provide marketers with fair access to petroleum products at reasonable prices.
DAPPMAN spokesperson, Ikem Ohia, made this call on Wednesday, while responding to questions in an interview on ‘The Morning Brief’, a programme on Channels Television.
Ohia argued that partnership with the Refinery would guarantee steady fuel availability across the country.
He also dismissed a widespread notion that the Association conflicted with the Dangote Refinery, adding that all they wanted was collaboration that would help eliminate fuel queues and ensure Nigerians benefit from a stable supply.
“Our key interest is to have petroleum products offered at reasonable prices consistently, in a way that there’s no stock-out and Nigerians no longer queue for fuel,” Ohia stated.
According to him, while Dangote Refinery is currently the dominant supplier, a development the marketers welcomed, the core challenge was access and pricing.
He added that to efficiently move petroleum products across the country, DAPPMAN members have, for more than 20 years, built a robust distribution network, with depots strategically located in Calabar, Port Harcourt, Warri, and Lagos.
“What we are asking Dangote to do is to use these depots that are already in existence for us to meet the demands of Nigerians,” he said.
Dismissing suggestions that marketers asked for subsidies, the spokesperson stressed that the matter was purely commercial.
He further explained that most global refineries supply through two models- wholesale bulk lifting by vessels and ex-gantry retail sales.
