The President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Okoronkwo, has called on the federal government to quickly fix the refineries in order to end the incessant scarcity of petrol in the country.
He made the call during a discussion on Tuesday on Channels TV on the return of queues in filling stations in Abuja and Lagos.
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There has been a lingering scarcity of petrol in Abuja for close to a month now but the scarcity hit Lagos on Monday with IPMAN members complaining of running at a loss while selling at the government-approved price.
He said, “I have given you an idea of what can solve that problem. By the time marketers begin to receive this product directly from NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) designated deport, there won’t be any problem again.
“We can use diesel as a means of calculating [how much petroleum will be selling currently without subsidy]. Everything is high up there but the only thing I think can happen to this country, by the time we begin to refine this product locally, it will go a long way.
“At least, we would have cut off the carrying of the crude out and bringing it back. That transportation gap will go a long way in reducing some of these price escalations.
“I think, from what they also told us, that Port Harcourt refinery, that they are working on it. They said it will come up before October. If that comes up, it will reduce some of these pressures.
“Like Dangote too. I don’t know when that one is coming up. If some of these things would begin to work, we have this crude here and I think government efforts should be channelled in making these refineries work.”
