The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Delta Chapter, has called for the immediate reopening of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) for operations.
Its Chairman, Mr Zino Onaemor, made the call while speaking with members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on Monday in Warri.
The IPMAN chairman expressed worries that the company had not been producing for more than one year and eight months.
He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to reopen the facility for production.
Onaemor said the only reason given by WRPC’s management for the closure of the facility was the face-off between it and the casual workers.
“It is sad that the Warri refinery has been down for one year and eight months; many may not be aware of this development because they see fuel around,” he said.
The chairman wondered why the facility had remained inoperative even after the problem with casual staff had been settled.
“After the company resolved the crisis with the casual workers, they refused to put on the refinery for reasons we do not know.
“I personally went to the WRPC, they said they were asked not start operations because they want to do an integrity test, which is just for people to see if the equipment are working or not,” he said.
Onaemor said that the President’s intervention would bring the facility back on stream.
“The refinery has no problem, it can be put back to work,” he said.
