Port Harcourt, Aug. 13, 2023: Rivers Chapter of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) said Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) may sell for N800 and N900 per litre in coming days.
They hinged the eminent increase in the prices of PMS also known as petrol on its recent slump in the black-market trading with the naira currently exchanging for N900 to a dollar.
Decrying looming price increase, the group urged the federal government to urgently reinforce ongoing Port Harcourt Refinery rehabilitation to save the country from huge implications associated with fuel importation.
Mr Joseph Obele, Chairman, IPMAN Rivers State chapter, in a statement made available to Newsmen on Saturday in Port Harcourt said, “that current exchange rate stood at N900 to a dollar in the black market, hence, the reason for the impending fuel price increase.
“As key players in the sector, I can tell you on good authority that the indicators for fuel price increase are obvious, as we speak, the importers are lamenting high cost on dollar exchange rate in the international market.
“This has obviously affected the price of fuel so if nothing is done by the federal government by way of interventions, the product might go as high as between N800 – N900 per litre in the coming days.
“The pronounced savings on subsidy removal should be channelled to ensuring that the Port Harcourt refinery resumes production earlier than the expected date announced by President Bola Tinubu.,” he said.
Obele, also Lecturer, Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic, noted that the fuel subsidy removal and growing inflation in the country had already brought untold hardship and pains to households.
According to him, “further increment on fuel price will complicate the lives of the generality of Nigerians”.
