The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has warned that member filling stations will stop selling petrol if the federal government tries to enforce a planned price control.
Speaking to Punch Newspapers, the National Publicity Secretary of the fuel marketers, Mr Chinedu Ukadike, said the warning was in response to comments by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Mr Heineken Lokpobiri, that the government would not tolerate profiteering and other practices that exploit fuel consumers.
Mr Lokpobiri, speaking in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the 2026 General Counsel and Legal Advisers Forum organised by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), reiterated that although the era of government-fixed petrol prices was over, deregulation did not mean regulators should abdicate their responsibility to protect consumers.
In response, the IPMAN mouthpiece denied allegations of profiteering, saying many marketers are running into losses with the series of reductions carried out lately by the Dangote refinery.
Mr Ukadike said the federal government should first investigate the root cause of the current high petrol prices and boost competition by making sure its refineries work, stressing that marketers will sell what they buy.
“Marketers will shut down if they try somehow to enforce price control. We are going to shut down our stations nationwide. You can’t be regulating a deregulated market. You can’t tell me how much to sell my product without trying to know how much I bought it,” he told the newspaper.
He also said independent marketers are losing money.
“We bought petrol at a particular rate a few days ago; on our way to our filling stations, there was a reduction. We have been struggling with the price. We have been struggling against financial losses. We are also struggling against stagnation due to low patronage of our products. Because those marketers who are purchasing now are purchasing at a lower price, and they are selling cheaper.
“If you don’t bring down your price, you cannot see buyers. This is the beauty of deregulation. If you cannot compete, you will not survive in the market. And because most of us are trading on bank loans, the bank does not know when the price goes up or goes down. Their interest rate is fixed; their return on investment is fixed. So, you must pay them. This is the situation we find ourselves in.”
He also called for increased competition and questioned the current arrangement.
“It is not about going to filling stations to check who is selling at higher prices. Do you know how much I bought the fuel for? Can you have a regulated market in a deregulated economy? You can’t be blowing hot and cold at the same time. The PIA must be followed to the letter. If they try to enforce price control, we will shut down,” he said in parts of the interview.
Crude prices have dropped from a high of $120 during the US-Iran war to as low as $73 a barrel, but this has not translated to a reprieve in the price of petrol at the pump.
