Mr Lanre Popoola, Chairman, Southwest, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), said the difficult in the operations of manufacturers has been worsened by the recent fuel pump price increase.

The MAN Southwest chairman said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday.

Popoola decried how difficult it has been to operate manufacturing firms on full scale under the current economic hardship.

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He said that MAN was already facing difficulties before the increase in the price of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol.

Popoola said it was unfortunate that amidst the increase and instability in the economy, the Federal Government expected the private sectors to implement N70,000 new national minimum wage.

“Can we increase salary now? No. We are in a dilemma,” he said.

According to him, the sector has been plagued with economic challenges, such as inflation and the devaluation of naira amidst forex scarcity.

“The present hard situation in the country has been worsened by the fuel increment with no respite in sight.

“It has been difficult to operate manufacturing industries on full scale.

“Even before the fuel increment, and now that the worst has happened, it has been difficult to operate under the economic hardship’’, he said.

BRANDPOWER recalls that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited reviewed the price of PMS from N580 per litres to N855 and N1200 depending on the location to another across the country.