DAILY POST
On Thursday, August 8, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, announced to Nigerians that the Port Harcourt Refinery would become operational in four weeks’ time, perhaps to meet the government’s August deadline of producing petroleum products.
The association went further to say that the refinery would equally be supplying between 10 and 12 million litres of petrol to marketers.
The IPMAN’s National Operations Controller, Zarma Mustapha, who let the cat out of the bag in an interview on national television, said the refinery would boost the supply of petroleum products in the country to about 11 to 15 million liters daily, and help ensure energy availability across the board.
According to him, the refinery was set to operate independently and sell at the prevailing market price with little or no government interference.
“There is this understanding that the Port Harcourt Refinery is going to perform independently and sell at whatever prevailing market price for them to recover their cost.
“It is not going to be run like a government entity as it has been before. I believe that the refinery coming up will really boost the demand and supply of PMS to nothing less than 11 to 15 million litres daily.
“I am confident and optimistic that this August deadline is going to be a realistic deadline. It will come on stream and fully produce all the necessary components that the refinery is supposed to produce,” he said.
However, instead of receiving the news with enthusiasm, Nigerians were rather skeptical considering the fact that several of such promises had been made in the past without any of them coming to fruition.
A segment of the society described the development as a harvest of promises with unending deceptions.
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