The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) in Kano State has called on its members to ignore the story being circulated through the social media that the Federal Government is planning to reduce fuel pump price from N145 per litre to N95 per litre.

The IPMAN Chairman in the state, Alhaji Bashir Dan-Malam, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Tuesday.

He said, “There is no plan to either reduce or increase the fuel pump price as we had a meeting with the Managing Director of the NNPC/PPMC, Mr Umar Ajiya and confirmed to us that there is no plan to reduce or increase the fuel pump price.”

“I am calling on our members in Kano Zone comprising Kano, Katsina, Bauchi, Yobe and Jigawa states to ignore the rumour because it is not true.”

He said the association found it necessary to speak on the issue so as to disabuse the minds of the marketers on the rumour in order not to discourage them from the business.

He alleged that some politicians were trying to use the social media to discourage marketers from buying the commodity from the depots to cause fuel scarcity in the country.

“The intention is to stop marketers from buying the product from depots across the country in view of the fact that they don’t want to sell at a loss.

“This rumour is politically motivated because election is around the corner. So our members should not listen to the rumour because there is no iota of truth in it.

“Anybody who thinks there will be fuel scarcity for now is deceiving himself because at the moment all depots have enough fuel,” Dan-Malam said.

He, however, called on the Federal Government to rehabilitate the major roads linking the various depots to ease the transportation of the commodity across the country.

“The Federal Government should rehabilitate the Lagos-Kano, Port Harcourt-Kano, Calabar-Kano and Warri-Kano roads,” he said. (NAN)