The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has urged the Federal Government to intervene urgently to assist in the production of goods as diesel price reaches N720 per litre.
MAN’s Chairman for Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo, Lanre Popoola, spoke on the increase of petroleum prices and lack of power supply at a meeting in Ibadan on Sunday.
He said, “It is a difficult thing ensuring production at this time, as diesel has gone up to N720 and N730 per litre. It is getting extremely difficult to produce and I don’t know how we are going to cope because 70 per cent of industries are running on diesel, there is no light.
“There is no power supply, we are having 30 per cent of what it used to be, whereas the disposable income of people is not increasing and the cost of products are going up. Even in my factory now, we are only running one shift instead of three shifts of eight hours each.
“Other businesses are also running limited hours on diesel as they cannot afford to use generators all day.”
According to the chairman, if the situation were to persist, it could lead to further problems that would hurt the nation’s economy and increase the hardships of Nigerians.
He added that the worst part is that diesel suppliers refuse to offer flexible payment plans such as monthly installments, even though they deliver the products in trust.
“They cannot again supply you with diesel and allow you to pay in two weeks. It is either you do cash and carry, or pay ahead because they too cannot predict the cost of the product. And I don’t blame them, imagine you bought diesel last week at N630 per litre and the next day it is sold for N730 per litre, how will you replace your stock,” he said.
The government must assist manufacturers, Popoola said, by giving some rebate on diesel, which is the only lifeline.
He said, “Aside from manufacturers, for transporters that are bringing food from the North or taking products to the East or Lagos, now the cost of their logistics would have doubled by 100 per cent if not 200 per cent.
“May be the government can come in and do a kind of palliative for us, it is either we have light 24 hours per week, to run our factories or do a palliative on diesel.
“But unfortunately, we don’t produce diesel in this country, if the refineries are working, it is a different ball game, the country would have had it better now, if the refineries are working.
“So the more the international prices of Petroleum products go up, the higher the prices of what we are going to get from them.”
