As the price of diesel rises to N720 a litre, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) is pleading with the Federal Government to intervene quickly to promote the production of commodities.

Head of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria’s Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, and Ondo branches, Lanre Popoola, declared this in Ibadan on Sunday, in response to rising fuel costs and a lack of electricity supply.

The chairman warned that if the situation worsened, it may lead to more serious problems that would wreak havoc on the country’s economy and exacerbate Nigerians’ suffering.

Mr.  Popoola stated that the way forward was for the government to come in and assist manufacturers, by giving some rebate on diesel, adding that, that was the only lifeline.

“Aside 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,” Mr Popoola said.

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