The National Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), James Tor, has cited the Israel-Iran crisis as a major cause of the current fuel scarcity in Nigeria.
In the past few days, fuel scarcity has led to long queues at filling stations, panic buying, and a surge in transport fares. Commenting on the development during an interview on ARISE TV, Tor highlighted the federal government’s role in importing petroleum products and allocating them to stakeholders, including IPMAN, for distribution.
He noted that the current geopolitical tensions in the Middle East had compounded existing challenges, leading to a bottleneck in the supply chain.
He, however, said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had increased efforts to alleviate the situation by opening up depots to ensure a steady supply of products.
He said, “The people that bring in the petroleum products into the country is the federal government. And when they bring in these products, they give us the stakeholders (which the IPMAN is of) for distribution. So it’s what we get that we can give out. If there are no products, then we can’t give out anything.
“But the federal government is doing much. Even on Monday, my National President was explaining that the NNPC had opened up some of their depots so we could have enough products supplied and distributed to the public.
“The president of IPMAN called me earlier and informed me of the increase in supply. So what we are witnessing is just a breach of what is going on.
“And what is going on? You see, the crises that are going on in the Middle East. The crisis between Israel and Iran is also affecting the distribution of fuel. All these things if you put them together, affect supply and distribution of petroleum products.”
