The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has commended President Bola Tinubu for subsidy removal and tasked him on palliatives for Nigerians.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, Debo Ahmed, national president of IPMAN, said for a long time, IPMAN had been very supportive of the removal of fuel subsidy because of its implication on the economy and the market space.

Mr Ahmed said the government needed to put a palliative package together for Nigerians because that area was lacking.

He said putting some palliatives in place that would ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians and even the marketers would be helpful.

“The government should have started planning about palliatives like the provision of buses and salary increases because it is not the government that will increase salaries but the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

”All these things should have been done, but the government did not do all these things. I am sure that the new government is doing something about palliatives,” Mr Ahmed said.

He added that a lot of money that should be channelled into the country’s development was used on subsidies.

He said that before now, it was only Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) importing while all the marketers depended on it to get their products.

”When the subsidy removal was announced, we had a lot of tickets that were pending.

”We have up to N5 billion worth of tickets that are pending with NNPCL retail that we have not been able to access,” he said.

According to Mr Ahmed, IPMAN controls 70 per cent of the market, and the purpose of establishing IPMAN has been achieved.

(NAN)