The Independent Petroleum Marketers has, in a letter written on Monday, 5th June, to the Federal Competition and Consumers Protection Commission, asked that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporate Limited be stopped from introducing a new ex-depot rate over petroleum products.
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The letter which their solicitors, First Bethel Solicitors, wrote had been captioned as INCREASE IN PETROLEUM PRICE: A CALL FOR INTERVENTION FROM ALLOWING THE NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION LIMITED (NNPCL) TO TAKE UNDUE ADVANTAGE OF THE PETROLEUM MARKETERS.
The letter, which according to the Solicitors, excluded the names of individuals behind the letter, had stated, “some of whom would not want to be named for fear of witch-hunting and victimisation from the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited”.
In the letter, the Independent Petroleum Marketers stated that the FCCPC, “As an agency established for the development and promotion of fair, efficient and competitive markets in the Nigerian economy to facilitate the access by all citizens to safe products and secure the protection of rights for all consumers in Nigeria; and for related matters, premised on the above mandate the petroleum marketers are seeking the protection of the Commission by preventing the NNPCL from unfair dealings by asking the marketers to pay additional money for products they had paid for several months ago before the new ex-depot rates. It was further stated in the letter that the NNPCL is trying to shortchange the petroleum marketers, which is grossly unfair”.
According to the Solicitors, “The grievances of the marketers are that some of them paid for the petroleum products over a year ago, and the NNPCL failed to supply them with the petroleum products and yet the NNPCL want the marketers to add additional money before they can supply the products to the marketers”.
In the letter cited by our correspondence, some of the members of the Independent Marketers Association claimed that they borrow money from the banks to finance their business, and the money has been in the custody of the NNPC Ltd for months without supplying the products, thereby leading some of the members’ indebtedness to the Banks. It further stated that:
“It is no longer news that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) has released a new ex-depot price of N475.50 per litre of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) petrol to the marketers and that the NNPCL has failed to consider that our clients had paid for products at the old rate several months ago without any supply, and it has traded with our clients’ money for several months and now wants to sell the products paid for at the old rates for the new rates.”
Hence, the letter was primarily written to the FCCPC to help intervene in the situation and bring justice and succour to the marketers; it stated that:
“Your Commission’s intervention is highly needed because our clients are concerned about recovering money to pay for the loans with which they purchased the tickets. Some of our clients are already being dragged to Court by the Banks for failure to pay back their loans. This indebtedness to the Banks was caused by the NNPCL, who refused to supply the products after collecting the ex-depot price from our clients”. “In addition, the products the NNPCL wanted to sell at the new rates to our clients have already been purchased from the NNPCL several months ago. Now they are saying they will sell the product for the new rate, not the old rate our client paid for. With due respect, this is an injustice and unfair to our client.”
Interestingly, the marketers alleged in their letter to the Commission that “it is their money that the NNPCL used to buy the product, and now they want to increase their indebtedness by asking them to buy at the new ex-depot rates”. Hence, the need to intervene by prevailing on the NNPCL to honour the contracts it entered with them before the new ex-depot rates can be applied as insisting on selling at the new ex-depot rate would grossly affect their business, more so, after retaining their money for several months without performing their obligations under the contract”.
The letter signed by Omoniyi Odeyemi, Esq., on behalf of First Bethel Solicitors for the Independent Petroleum Marketers, sincerely believes that the FCCPC will intervene in resolving the matter.
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