The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has called on President Bola Tinubu to declare a state emergency on the country’s four refineries.
IPMAN’s Chairman in Rivers State, Dr. Joseph Obele, said bringing back the refineries would surely reduce the price of fuel and ameliorate the suffering of the masses.
Though there was no scarcity of the product in Rivers, most petrol stations in Port Harcourt, the capital city, sold it between N605 and N620 per litre.
Obele explained that the NNPCL being the sole importer of fuel in country increased the depot price from N487.7 to N567.7 per litre.
He said: “We saw a new buying rate on the NNPC portal. The previous buying rate was N487.7 per litre. The new buying rate going forward is N567.7 per litre. The new selling rate is N600, N610, N620 and above.
“It is going to bring hardship to the citizens and marketers will need to source for additional trading capital in order to remain in the business. The Nigerian economy is going and the inflation index will further rise.
“Our solution is fixing Nigeria refineries. Mr. President should declare state of emergency on Nigeria refineries”.