The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has criticized President Bola Tinubu, saying he hasn’t displayed enough interest in restoring the country’s refineries.
IPMAN Chairman in Rivers State, Mr. Joseph Obele, argued that the President’s plans are misguided for the economic issues the nation faces.
He noted that pain and hardship will continue in the country until President Tinubu takes the step to fix Nigeria’s refineries.
Obele stated this while reacting to President Tinubu’s recent nationwide broadcast where the President mentioned billions of naira set aside for various palliatives, student loans, and free buses, alongside over N1 trillion saved from subsidy removal in a month.
He questioned why the President and his team aren’t making significant investments to refurbish the country’s refineries and address subsidy issues.
According to Obele, the President’s speech failed to provide a clear path for Nigeria to escape its economic difficulties, warning that the proposed palliatives could be flawed.
He said, “Why won’t they just invest all the billions in fixing our refineries within few days. The truth is that, until we fix the Nigeria refineries, the price of fuel will be expensive since we are buying from the international market and the prices of other commodities will reflect as such.
“I’m beginning to think that Mr President has an interest in the foreign refineries that Nigeria is buying Fuel from. In his 13 minutes speech, nothing was said about fixing Nigeria’s refineries, then I asked myself who are the advisers of Mr President?
“I will say on good authority that all the proposed palliatives will be in futility. Administrative experts will tell you that, if you really want to solve any problem, you must attend to the root cause of the problem. Until then, the problem will continue.
“The address of Mr President doesn’t contain the solutions to Nigeria’s current economic conditions and the Problems, pains and Hardship will definitely continue until Nigeria’s refineries are functional.”
