… Commends Tinubu for taking bold step
The National President of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Debo Ahmed, says the forces of demand and supply will bring down the pump price of fuel in no distant time.
Ahmed, who stated this Thursday in an interview with journalists in Abuja, said the association will play its part in making the products available in order to bring the price down.
“IPMAN can do a lot to bring prices of petroleum products down. The prices will be within the current range for now. A lot of products have to be in the market for it to come down. And IPMAN is in a position to bring in a lot of products to make sure that the price is a little bit down.
“Since the market has been deregulated, a lot of people will bring in products and when the products come, the law of economics that is supply and demand will set it and certainly prices will go down,” he said.
The IPMAN President commended President Bola Tinubu for taking the bold step of removing fuel subsidy.
He said: “For a long time IPMAN has been very supportive of the removal of fuel subsidy because of its implication on the economy and the market space. A lot of money that should be channeled to the development of the country is used on subsidy.
“I commend the president for removing fuel subsidy on his first day in office. He has tried. He did a very good job. Successive governments found it difficult to remove subsidy. Not that they don’t want to remove it, it is because the political exigency is more than economic exigency to them.
“If you remember, during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s time, they came with appropriate pricing, deregulation. They gave it all sorts of names but they could not do it. Obasanjo was only increasing the price and you increased the price and the thing is still there because we are importing. The president has done a good job and it is going to help this country a lot.”
He however, said the government should have put palliative measures in place before removing the subsidy.
“That is the area that the government is lacking. Putting some palliative that will ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians and even the marketers.
“You see, before the removal, the Petroleum Industry Act was signed and fuel subsidy was a big issue in the PIA of 2021. The government should have started planning about palliatives like provision of buses, salary increment. I am sure that the new government is doing something about palliatives,” he said.
