 We got to know you still there and watching the breakfast on plus TV Africa. My name is Nyam Gul. I got you. Don't forget that We are having a wonderful time here. We're hoping that you have a wonderful time as well No matter what the condition in the country might be life must go on It's a midweek and we're happy to know that you are there and watching us right now we have these fuel subsidy Removal that we've been talking about all this time and we were thinking about how the market is going to be after this fuel subsidy has been removed who will be in charge of importing and Exporting as the case may be. Is it still the NNPCL or Will it be open to the general public as it were whoever can get the license to do whatever can do it? It's a free market right now or at least that is what we were hoping it's going to be But we have heard the independent petroleum marketers association saying the federal government must break NNPC's monopoly On importation, which means there still is a problem in that. So we're glad to have joining us here a member of the independent petroleum marketers association of Niger Ipeman Chief Ukadike Cinedu talking to us from Pothakot. Good morning and welcome to the program chief Good morning. I'm surprised that Ipeman is still talking about Breaking the monopoly of NNPC We thought that with the fuel subsidy removal and the petroleum industry bill NNPC wouldn't have that monopoly anymore to import fuel give us a true situation right now In the importation of the fuel into Nigeria Yeah, um, it is quite correct And he has some student youth events and NNPC is the only source of petroleum products Saucers in Nigeria We saw where it's only NNPCL That normally supplies independent petroleum marketers We also have other tank farms Uh, private tank companies Who also source from NNPC NNPC credit So it is only NNPC That have the fuel work and the enablement To be able to import petroleum products Now that subsidy is removed And there is the derivative economy or market We're independent marketers We're also back to ready to be able to source our petroleum products ourselves So that we can be able to reduce the pricing of petroleum products Because the template said by NNPC is monopolistic NNPC will set their own template at any given time So in a competitive environment, in a good and better environment It's first of the final supply Determines price It is not availability that determines price So for now The only source of our produce of petroleum products in Nigeria Is your NNPC And that's why independent marketers We're also looking forward And also asking governments To be able to deliver the enablements All the framework To also import petroleum products As our home base And distribute to our members You'll be very aware And the sustainability here That independent marketers Uh, have 90% of retail appness Nationwide in all the news and climbing of this country So we have the structure of distribution We have the structure of distribution And we want to utilize it fully To ensure that Products are great for the masses And by the time independent marketers start Importing petroleum products I want to tell you the issue Of a high price Of a drone product We'll mention it and we'll research And find out where we can be able to get Petroleum products later At the latest cost at least 400 to 300 Okay, but what are the provisions In the PIB regarding Importation of this fuel Into Nigeria Because when everybody was applauding The federal government of passing This bill into law We hoped that it was going to cover All these things So what does it provide in the PIB For importation Well, the international We are good in making very Very good policies And it becomes a very big problem Because this de-regulation Was a kind of a similar Something that Well, Chivo Kaddike Chinedu, Ipman Member, they're talking to us about The monopoly that NNPC is enjoying Even till now After the passing of the PIB That is the pressure from Sean Beal And We were hoping that these questions Or these problems will not arise anymore I would have loved to hear what the PIB Said about the standard of the PIB On importation of fuel And I would also Have loved to hear What it takes for anybody To be able to import fuel Into the country right now So what is it that the government needs To do for people To get these licenses And What is the process like So that we get to know these things And some of the challenges that They might be facing right now Is Chivo Kaddike back with us? Can you hear me? No, no We also know that That is the issue of Assessing of Fueling products It can't go and buy petroleum products It's not bought by So the Assessing of dollar Is generally important To make available Forex For independent marketers That want to buy petroleum Buy products or import products Into this country These are some of the issues That will be discussed with Federal government and the rates In which the government is going to give us the dollar To do the important product We have already done our search We are ready, we are about to ready To import So they will sit down with us And we will sit down with them And see how they will be able to sort out Our money So these are some important issues That Federal government need to sit down With all the important When you say you are ready to Take up that challenge What do you really mean? What have you put in place to make sure that If you are given the opportunity To make sure that We have the resources We also have the structure We are not only looking for the market We have the ballistic market We have uptake and which is our member Which is our member So we are not looking for where we are going to buy To sell or distribute We are really looking for the market But if we put almost 75% Of people who are also important In this country So we are ready, we have the structure Of this facility So we are ready to do that We are not looking for where we are going to Must be our big, big, big stations We have set our position To the set of how to be able to compete With the moment and that moment in the past Most of our positions are Edifices So that is what I am trying to say That we are ready, we have the structure In the news and crime of this country So we will have any product That will be imported by ourselves So what we are looking for is a cheap product Who wants competition We don't want NMPC To box us And give us and Tie our money down for most Without the face of lying to us As I am talking to you now We have over 7000 tickets Tie in NMPC For the past 3-4 months And the bank interest is growing So it is a market declaration That is what we want Because we are from the capital Renters So our daily sales Okay Chivo Kaddike We have lost your audio We are hoping that you will rejoin us Take it a little bit Do what you need to do and rejoin us Because there are things we need to really find out From you As an Ipman representative Here on the show this morning For instance When you are talking about The things that you are going to do And all that What is the level of engagement that you have had With the federal government As we stand As at now What is the level of engagement that you have had Chivo Kaddike can you hear me now Okay fine You were saying so many things But your audio went off But right now I would like to know The level you have gone In engaging the federal government So that this thing will as soon as possible Be put on your lap What is your level of engagement With the federal government I understand that The policy of this relation Keep up And it is very because of Mr. President's Enogro speech And during that enogro speech He told me that The game has gone So I also think that The government is also putting up A lot of things at the same time Quickly To put everybody on the place So there is a lot of competition now And I also believe that The issue of time As much as the government Is new The problem we have If we have a very good institution When that government comes and goes The institution is wrong So we are also waiting for To invite us And they look at both of them And they would look at both of them So that we Will do our importation We will come back To this discussion Of importation of fuel and all that But they Worry that Nigerians and experts Have always had Is that we do not even have the data Of consumption Of fuel in Nigeria So as a member of the independent market As an institution of Nigeria How do you Collate your data What can you say about the consumption Capacity of Nigeria Daily or monthly or yearly As it regards the Petroleum products that we sell Because the figures that have been Given by the federal government All these years As consumption The amount of fuel that is consumed In Nigeria, it's scary So do you have the same figure Or a different figure from what the federal Government has always been giving That this is the amount of fuel That comes into Nigeria on a daily basis We can hear you Okay sorry In terms of data Or statistics About consumption rate in Nigeria You know a lot of information That a product is being Smuggled out of this country In the boring country We have also Also said that it cannot be sold By a product from the boring country So we cannot be able to actually Quantify products being consumed In Nigeria But also we know that The energy sale in the case Some millions of liters to the independent market And we are able to use that question So with what is going on And the price of petroleum products I also believe That A number of countries looking at the price Of petroleum products Now to the number of countries Who will not be a profitable business Of those people This subsidy Has also put a stop to that And I also believe That with the matching product Given to the security agencies That are surprising That the issue of smuggling And all the rest of them will stop So by now We will be able to look at the First trim product We can be able to say Actually what We can be able to consume But for now we cannot be able to Analyze what we can be able to consume Just because Of this lapses Of smuggling across the border Let's look at what The federal government has always been saying It gives people concern That whenever they are talking Petroleum and whatever Is happening in that industry They refer to dangoti Which is just a private Business No matter how many people are investing in Whether they themselves are investing We hear that NNPC bought like 20% of the shares And I don't know why that is Their own refineries and bought 20% Of the shares in the private company That is coming up But the arrival of Dangoti Refinery how will it affect It man positively or negatively And why Well Because this is another Breaking of the monopoly By NNPC Or NNPC and it's subsidiary Of this company Dangoti is coming on board This another source For independent marketer And I think that Dangoti is also A kind of curation A kind of network Whereby They will also supply this to So it will also make Prolox purchase More easier for independent marketer I also tell you that we are interested In breaking the buck In dispensing petroleum agritas To me and you So it is very It is a very welcome Cilero That we are also having a second chance We also Want to also Encourage Those that have This company It is also Some of our petroleum products too If some of this Paralyze can be able to Spend up and the Government will Support them and supply them To find a petroleum product I think that will also be useful The essence of deregulation And subsidiary rule She will be able to drive competition In terms of some petroleum product Or in terms of supply All these issues Will also help independent marketer And this brings them to be able to Have opportunity To source their petroleum product At any given time At any particular place And even closest to dispensing Because most of our problem is stocking You know that is why The government has also Scrapped the petroleum Of the country so far So if Refanares Have been Refanares has been And source of petroleum product Are very very close to independent marketer You will find out the issue of this High price of petroleum product will go Or also for primary will go Because it will be very very easy For independent marketer to drive Within 30 kms or 30 kms And source of petroleum product Come back to that station and say It will also serve the rules And also give life To the business The money is doing People have Some people have said That Until those borderline refineries That you are calling for Common board That will be another monopoly Which will be worse than the NNPC When it was under the government And all that I don't know how you would respond to that Government has said that They had left that Sector That was a refinery But only Dangote came up And maybe one or two modular refineries Here and there But people still fear that Dangote being a mega player The way he is right now Will be a monopoly And that monopoly will be worse Than the federal government's monopoly When it was NNPC How would you respond to that? Dangote refinery coming on board Is a work of development Which is a work of development We encourage it No matter How people feel about it We have a refinery that is working Now We also have Ticked against Nigeria is just depending on Dangote because the federal government Is giving on Dangote a refinery For our only source of petroleum product But no We are expected Mr. President To give A set of imaginesis A set of imaginesis And all these are for refineries And a show that within a specific period of time That is how it will come on board It will drive competition What you want is competition If Dangote, even another person Can also come and build refineries What we want is competition also for petroleum product And we say to our consumers So that people can be able to buy this product If you see what is going on In the country now Most of our stations sell 3,000 litres a day 5,000, some sell 30,000 litres a day Some sell 4,000, 5,000 litres a day But since this increase in price Most of us don't even sell up to 500 litres a day So the business is very very bad It is trying to extinguish it very much And the capital is there very much So the coming of Dangote It should not be a minus Rather it should be a plus It should be corrected And we are also ready To sell our petroleum product from there But let's not be limited And we are dependent on Dangote Since we are dependent For the importation of petroleum product The issue of the cost of that Some of them will not be too much on us It is very easy Look at the cost of that To take from Dangote refineries And this goes to the previous Where we have most of our tank farms Located in the coastal areas So I think the coming of Dangote Is a very very easy one We will not use cement And in doing all the rest of them To be able to put what is going to happen In the other end of the capital The petroleum product is very very special It drives the domestic economy And even the international economy Some of the greatest challenges That you have as As independent marketers Some of the challenges that you have Let's just have a feel Of what you go through as Independent marketers in that sector Can I get the question again please? What are some of the challenges Some of the greatest challenges you face As independent petroleum marketers Okay Some of the challenges we have Especially security Now that the product is very very high Now that the cost of petroleum product Costs to just one million Lira And above And above Yeah I was scared I was told that we'll have chocolate But I was like oh you got this very very well You are a dog To build a farm And I put in the bags That's the next step Security We have to move We have to move This has been a big step I think that a lot of people I think that we should not go We need security in terms of handling of our taxes and in our pre-session. These are very, very, very important issues that we are not going to have tomorrow. So that we can remove our investment. Another asset that we will have is funds, cost of funds. Very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very big We are not going to pay the petroleum bank or energy bank as we have peoned before. We will see it go to commercial banks and take the money on a very high interest rate. So we are able to sell petroleum products. And we look at the kind of market. Enemies is selling these products to us as 400, some to 490. And they are also putting a stream of 511. So we will look at it. And we are able to make around 300,000. It's not business at all. So that is why we are trying more for more sources of it. So we are able to go to work with a very, very cheap way of doing market price. And we are able to try to get back. Because we are also expecting that when petroleum products are worth 100,000, we are expected to have 100,000 per litre. And we are able to do market price. We are selling one like 3, one like 3 self-administration. There is also for our competitive relation. We are able to return the money from back. And also we are able to do a very good part of that. So we have cost of phone. It's very, very heavy on us. And because of this huge amount of money, most of us are not so clamoring back to their bank. So we are able to include their loan facilities. Which is a very, very high interest rate. I love the challenges by NGTR. And some of these, we do all these unnecessary documents in NGTR and say dependent market price. And then in particular, if you want to relieve your license, you go into a whole, whole of real police clearance. And unnecessary taxes. I want you to see the difficulties of independent market price in this show. People will not think that they are making billions of Naira. Local government and others will come and send you a certain amount. With that being said, we are very, very stressed. We also have a certain interest rate. And as much as we are making bigger profit. So most of these government taxes are not the rest of them. And all the unnecessary taxes that have been paid on independent market price will make you also try to see as how can they be able to leave Naira. So they will be able to give us Naira money in the competitive market. So they will be able to try to survive. So there are a lot of challenges in independent market price. But if I continue, I think we will not have enough time to discuss about important issues. When you talked about security, are you talking about the need for police personnel, for instance, to be at the filling stations and your tank farms? Is it not enough to have private security be there? What kind of things do you face at the filling stations that you need police presence all the time? And how much of these police presence do you really need in a filling station? Well, you are very, very, very well at the time. The security of brick and entrails, and the hijacking of petroleum trucks, driving harassment of the tank drivers around the road, hijacking of some of the tank drivers, huh, who are been expressing it. And also there is no compulsive. So we need to have facilitation. that do for 8 hours a week, you know, doing the next morning, you know, to improve because this is a situation that everybody wants to compete, everybody wants to be in the market, everybody wants to be able to utilize this opportunity to be able to do a very good turnover. So it is also important that even if you have some privacy, this is also important that the government should look at it to see how they can be able to start a certain business in some areas where the police station is doing the better. So it is also important for those areas as well. I'll talk on this in a minute. Okay, before we go, I'd like a confirmation from you. We heard that the price for gas and jet fuel has come down. I'd like you to just confirm it if that is true. Yes, I also had a suggestion that we're not, but in the outside, like the way the CQS price was being deducted on the share media, we were to confirm from that, we were to confirm, but I heard that the price is going down, and even that of the A.J. is also going down. So this is a bit of deregulation. So since that could be, it's almost around 600 or 500 or so. It's a way of development. If we can also be able to have some to move on, because we spend a billion on that, where our free system is so far so good, so far so good. So when you buy a kilogram per liter to power your free system, you know what it costs in the month. And the price is in this meter. Most of us are using the operation at the cost. Okay. Well, this brings me to this is the very final one. This brings me to what people have been saying that independent marketers are very wicked because the old subsidy actually will last till June, and after June that's when it will go. But after the announcement by the president, which did not really mean that it has begun, it is gone in the sense that it will not continue from June. But the prices went up like 300% in filling stations from 215 era. Some people they began to sell at 700 era. Can you explain to us why that happened? Why that had to happen if it had to happen? I also believe that federal governments should be preparing a strong policy for independent marketers, because we are the ones that bear the bonds. We are the ones that break the buck. We are the ones that approach the people with the space to do the count, with the space to capital, with the space to pass. So whenever there is an impulse for the figuring out reaction from the masses, it is in the filling stations, some of them the damage some of our firms and all the rest of them. Even when the MLPC import bad fuel to this country, it spoiled our brand most of our filling stations who have been attacked, or managers who have been arrested and we are fixing all the rest of them. And it is not even our fault, MLPC came with this strategy. We imported bad fuel, we are trying to distribute. We are able to manage those periods of time and those strikes. We have really suffered a lot about this business, but we are proud of our independent marketer. That is one thing for sure. The issue of having bad name and the rest of them is also in business. We can say independent marketer are having bad name. We are saying we have been taught a system. We are selling and we are impressed of this people. Because we know that if we shut down everyone will say we are ugly. We have made the MLPC government to come and start harassing us. Even in our own facilities even in the product we import, we don't have money to buy. As a marketer you don't even have the right to say you don't want to sell to the public. So the issue of that government we made the policy and we started to record it. Before the government put this in, I have tickets in the Government of Mathematics for the past 3 months. Those tickets are going to be needed. Now those tickets we have bought, some of them we have bought for around 8% to 1 million. We paid for the MLPC and the MLPC are going to come back. The MLPC is going to bring to a 10.8 million to our roommates so that we can be able to carry our product. Why do we do so much money from? Everybody wants to take advantage of this. When the Prime Minister said all the commuters will line up with the position to buy a personal product. Nobody will run away. Nobody will have the independent marketer to blame again. No more long queues. Now, something we have bought for 8.7 million they say it will bring to a 10 million so that we can be able to carry it. What do we complain? Why do we do this money? Even if we have paid this money before the Prime Minister made this policy, why didn't he just say that? That was right to the commuters. Can't you sue the MLPC? You should be able to sue the MLPC, shouldn't you? Yes, because you have paid for the product and now they are asking you for more. It's not your fault. They should have given you at the time you paid. You should sue them. That is the wrong work in section. On the past four days, the Prime Minister made that statement. He demanded 1 litre from the MLPC. They were busy loading the whole company. They were busy loading the whole company. We feel your pain right now. Now we know who the real wicket person is or the people are. Thank you so much for coming on the show and telling us what the challenges are and calling for the solutions that you think are workable for all of us in our own interest. Thank you so much for being a part of the show today. I appreciate that. That was Chivu Okadike Chinedu, a member of IPMAN, talking to us on why the federal government must break the monopoly of the MLPC on importation of fuel. We'll take a short break when we return. Stay with us.