Obele also urged the FG to match words with actions in reviving Nigerian refineries
By Kehinde Okeowo
The chairman, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Rivers State Chapter, Joseph Obele, has said the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol, will drop to N200/per litre when the refineries in Nigeria are functional.
He made this known on Friday in a statement he released while reacting to the soaring price of fuel after subsidy removal in June.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration had pledged to get the Port Harcourt refinery to begin production by December 2023.
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Similarly, Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources(Oil), reiterated the government’s commitment to make this happen when he visited the Port Harcourt refinery a week ago.
He said: “Our objective in coming here today is to ensure that in the next few years, Nigeria stops fuel importation. From what we have seen here today, Port Harcourt Refinery will come on board by the end of the year.
“Warri will come on stream by the end of the first quarter of next year, and Kaduna will also come on board towards the end of next year. If you add that to the Dangote Refinery, we will be able to stop fuel importation, and Nigerians will enjoy the full benefits of deregulation,”.
Addressing the issue on behalf of oil marketers, Obele says revitalising Nigeria’s local refineries is the solution to economic challenges occasioned by fuel subsidy removal.
He urged the federal government to match words with actions in reviving the Port Harcourt refinery.
“Until our nation-owned refineries are functional, fuel prices will keep increasing due to international variables. But when our refineries are functional, Nigerians will buy fuel for less than N200 per litre,” he said.
After fuel subsidy removal, the price of petrol jumped to over 600 per litre in most places in the country.
