Marketers of petroleum products have issued warnings that retail businesses are ceasing operations as a result of rising operating costs.
Speaking at the Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria’s (NOGASA) National Executive Council meeting in Abuja, the marketers criticized President Bola Tinubu’s method for eliminating gasoline subsidies, claiming that steps that should have been taken prior to the elimination were not taken.
The marketers claimed that before the gasoline subsidy was eliminated, the nation’s refineries needed to be running and foreign exchange problems needed to be settled.
The marketers questioned the Federal Government’s inability to end the illicit trading of dollars in the country.
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Speaking at the meeting, NOGASA President, Mr. Benneth Korie, warned that the downstream in the country was under serious pressure as stations were shutting down due to harsh operational conditions.
He stated: “Depot owners are so terribly affected by the increasing cost of the crude and exchange rate to the extent that many depots are practically deserted as their owners are unable to secure bank loans to fund their business due to high interest rates.
“Banks are not willing to guarantee funds release to stakeholders as a result of the difficulty, instability and galloping foreign exchange rate. Many depots are presently dried up or out of stock.
“Worst hit are filling stations whose owners find it extremely difficult to secure funds to procure products for their retail outlets and both the independent and major marketers are so terribly affected that as at today, filling stations are shutting down in great numbers on a daily basis and dealers are going out of business with many more on the verge of bankruptcy because of their inability to secure funds to facilitate orders for their stations”.
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