Still bleeding from the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy, marketers under the auspices of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) have urged the Federal Government to provide its members a N100 billion grant in order to prevent the imminent closure of about 10,000 fuel retail outlets.
In a position paper to the Federal Government jointly signed by PETROAN President, Billy Harry, National Secretary, Adedibu Aderibigbe and National PRO, Joseph Obele, the association said the high cost of borrowing from banks is injurious to their businesses.
They explained that since the removal of fuel subsidy, members of PETROAN have been unable to buy petroleum products due to high bank interest rates which range between 38 to 40 per cent.
The association maintained that for the cost of petroleum products to be affordable, the cost of borrowing must equally be moderate, and that the entire costs end up adding to the retail pump price of the product.
